


The Most Destructive Emotion

by LokasennaHiddleston



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BAMF Loki, BAMF Tony Stark, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Loki Feels, Loki Gets a Hug, Loki Needs a Hug, Look at that I think I invented a ship, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Multi, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Post-Thor: The Dark World, Protective Amora, Protective Tony Stark, Rare Pairings, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-05-20 21:12:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 54,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6025075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokasennaHiddleston/pseuds/LokasennaHiddleston
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love is the most destructive emotion. Amora the Enchantress knows this very well.<br/>She also knows that her only friend, the one man who ever loved her for more than her beauty - Loki - is gone. She had failed him, abandoned him to Asgard's tender mercies. There is no way to take back her actions now, but in Loki's name, she will have her revenge - on the Thunderer, and on his Midgardian allies.<br/>What Amora does not know is that one particular Midgardian has a vested interest in Loki's well being too. And when she finds out, she's quite intrigued by the handsome armorsmith.<br/>As for Tony Stark... He has enough on his plate with one Asgardian magic user. How in the world will he make time for two?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Vengeance

**Author's Note:**

> Happy belated Valentine's Day! I wrote this because 1. Valentine's Day and 2. Amora! How could I not? I didn't post it yesterday because I was busy and I wanted to make sure I could make it more than a drabble.  
> I have no idea if anyone has ever written this pairing before. I looked on the archive, but if it exists in the form I intend to write it in, I haven't found it. Also, my Amora is largely based on the cartoons.   
> On a different note, I'm going to update the other stories too - I haven't forgotten :) Just be patient with me pls :D  
> Without further ado, enjoy!

The halls of the Asgardian palace rang out with the sound of bustling servants and workers. The repairs of the citadel were still ongoing, the attack of the Dark Elves having done extensive damage to both the royal residence and the city itself.

For Amora, none of it mattered in the slightest. She walked through the corridors unseen and unheard. Behind her, Skurge followed, a silent and ever-faithful guardian.

She had many times wondered how it would be like to return to her homeland. She'd always known that eventually, she would do so, but she'd never expected it to be like this.

Her destination was easy to find. She'd been here so many times in the past, before all sort of poorly considered choices and schemes had taken that privilege from her.

Loki's rooms had once been strongly warded. Growing up, she'd had great fun sneaking past his spells. Eventually, she'd become unable to do so, but even then, Loki had rarely kept her out of his chambers. He had never said that he enjoyed their time together, but he'd shown it in other ways.

Now, it was not an issue at all.

The Prince of Mischief's chambers were all but abandoned. All of his things had been removed, likely placed into storage, if they hadn't been burned. The shelves were barren, no sign of Loki's massive collection of books. His quills and papers no longer sat on the table.

Worse still, the feel of his seidr was gone. His wards were no longer there. Everything had vanished.

It was like Loki had never existed at all. His very presence seemed to have been wiped from the golden halls of Asgard. Everything he'd done for the Golden Realm—all his loyalty and his wit and his mischief—it had been forgotten.

The only thing that remained was the tales of the broken Bifrost, of the traitor who'd let the Jotnar into Asgard in an attempt to take over the throne, the despot who had wanted to attack the harmless Midgardians.

But that was not the Loki Amora had known. And she knew, she knew deep inside her heart that he could have not changed so much, even in numerous years she had been gone. She knew that if he'd ever wanted a realm, he could have taken it—but it would not have been like that.

Memories assaulted her as she stood frozen in the center of Loki's rooms. So many times, Amora had found Loki here. He would be seated at his desk, skimming through massive dusty tomes he'd likely appropriated from distant libraries through methods only he knew. She'd come in, and he would look at her with undisguised irritation. But he would never actually push her away—never, not until Amora's own foolishness had gotten between them.

Amora sat down heavily on Loki's bed. She remembered sharing it with Loki, when they'd been young and curious and too embarrassed to turn to anyone else in their explorations. Loki had been shy, a far cry from the Silver Tongue he would eventually become, but the memory still burned in Amora's memory, on her skin.

And then, there had been Thor, Loki's beloved golden brother, and Amora's dream to become queen. At one point, she had believed that it would be perfect, that she and Loki and Thor could rule Asgard together, make it greater than ever before.

Thor had refused her, and Amora had grown bitter and angry. Loki had sided with his brother. It had been the beginning of the end.

Amora clenched her hands into fists. She had hoped that she might find something here, some sort of clue, some reassurance. She should have known better. The only things that remained were dust and bitterness, tears and regret, the memory of Loki's green eyes and his cold hands as they raked over her flesh, sometimes so gently, other times so wild. He'd always been so strong, her Loki, stronger than Asgard gave him credit for.

One time, after a particularly enthusiastic bout, he'd left bruises on her skin. He'd brought her the heart of a chimera as an apology. She'd taken the heart of course—she'd needed it for a spell—and had then proceeded to reassure him that no apology had been needed at all.

Why had she ever left that behind? All her goals and schemes seemed so empty. She had thought she'd hated him for the part he'd played in her exile, but not even in her worst nightmares had she imagined that she would never see him again, never see that dagger-sharp smile and hear his laugh.

But she could deny it no longer. The signs in the Dark World had been clear. Even months after the fact, the traces of the battle that had happened there still lingered. The blood of a sorcerer was potent, and Amora had sensed it in the dead earth of Svartalfheim.

She had still held onto hope regardless. Loki was so clever, so resourceful, the strongest mage in the Nine Realms. He was the only one who had ever been able to beat her. Not Odin, but Loki. Her dear, childhood friend. Her lover, the man she'd abandoned for the dream of the golden Thor.

It was not often that Amora the Enchantress felt guilt or regret. She definitely felt it now. She hadn't even been here for his funeral. Had they even burned his body at all, given him a warrior's parting?

She did not know. She had not been here to see it. She had never been here for him.

And what of the Thunderer? Odin's magic was faltering, so much so that his hold on Amora's shackles had faltered, making it possible for her to return at last. But Thor was not here to see to his father, to his people.

Did he even care at all? Did he even mourn his fallen brother? Probably not. He was too busy celebrating with his Midgardian friends. They were likely overjoyed at hearing of Loki's demise.

With a silent snarl, Amora shot to her feet. She nodded jerkily at Skurge, who had been quietly observing her, as was his habit. "Come, my Executioner. I have need for your axe."

"I live to serve you, Enchantress."

Amora took Skurge's arm and willed them out of the quarters that had once belonger to Loki. She had failed Loki badly, but there was still one thing she could do for him. She would avenge him, and show the mortals who had been his downfall that they'd made a serious error.

****

Thor's new shield-brothers were called the Avengers. They were an interesting lot, for Midgardians, and while Amora would have liked to just disintegrate them and make them burn with the fire of seidr, she knew it wouldn't be so easy.

For one, she wasn't entirely certain how the green beast would react to that. The berseker called the Hulk seemed impervious to most direct damage.

The archer and the woman assassin were easy enough. They were skilled, but compared to her and Skurge, they were puny ants. The soldier's strength and speed were formidable for a Midgardian, but not necessarily a challenge either. The armorsmith's mortal magic might have captured Amora's interest, but the man behind the metal mask was as weak as any other.

In the end, Amora had never been one for frontal attacks. No, she would do better. She would tear them apart from the inside, using the most destructive force in the universe. Love.

For all that she was in a rage over Loki's demise, she did not immediately act. Instead, she watched them and considered her next move.

She was tempted to take their loved ones from them. Thor's mortal wench would be a particularly satisfying target, because apparently, he deemed her important enough to abandon his people for her. The archer had a little secret family—how quaint—and the beast was quite taken with the assassin. The armorsmith showed preference toward a certain Virginia Potts, although they didn't appear to be involved romantically, at least not at the moment.

But mortal hearts were fickle and lost love was not truly enough punishment. No, she could think of something better. A love that would tear them apart, consume them, destroy the bond they had.

A spell like she had in mind was not easy to cast, but she was determined. Loki deserved this much, at least. And it was with Loki in mind that she painstakingly carved every rune.

Idly, she wondered what Loki would think if he saw her now. Perhaps he would laugh at her sentimentality. She'd never been one for deep emotions. Hearts were so easily swayed that falling into such a mistake would have been laughable.

But Loki was unique in many ways. He was the exception. His heart had ever been steadfast, even when he arched a brow at her and berated her for trying to seduce him into sharing a new spell.

And in the end, this was as much for her as it was for Loki. Loki had been her truest friend. They had grown up together, and he had been immune to her lies. He'd been the only man who'd never truly seen her as the Enchantress—just as Amora—the only man who had respected and wanted her not only for her beauty, but for her talents.

Now, what did she have? Only Skurge. And Skurge was loyal, but he was a thrall. He worshipped her beauty and offered her his sword arm without question. He was a weapon—not a friend.

Amora poured all her viciousness and frustration into her spell. She had not cast something so elaborate in ages, but this magic was in her nature, and Odin's power no longer controlled her.

Finally, all the preparations for the enchantment were complete. Now, the only thing she needed to do was to lure out the flies into her web. An appropriate metaphor, perhaps, given that they had a so-called Black Widow on their team.

For her purposes, a simple animating spell would do. She only needed to distract the Avengers and keep them busy.

She considered taking the wenches anyway, but in the end, she decided against it. If she involved them, they would be prepared for a trap. Not to mention that adding another element to the spell could potentially botch it.

In the end, she was more than satisfied with the result of her efforts. The stage was set. Her vengeance was coming. The Midgardians would never know what hit them.

And perhaps, if she tried hard enough, Amora could convince herself it would suffice to heal her own wounds.


	2. Asgardian Magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the first chapter was on the shorter side, more like a prologue - so I decided to post this too. Thank you to everyone who's commented and kudos-ed so far, encouraging my insanity!

Tony was looking over the specs of a new stealth-mode inducing device when the call to assemble came in. He grumbled tiredly. It seemed that since the Avengers had been formed, they'd been more of a lure to threats than an actual deterrent.

One would have thought that villains would avoid New York given that it was the base of several superhero teams, but no such luck. And Tony in particular seemed unlucky. First the Ten Rings. Then Vanko. Then, the Chitauri. And recently, because lightning could actually strike twice in the same place even when certain annoying Norse deities were not involved, the Ten Rings again. And then, of course, Hydra, who'd turned out to be nestled cozily inside SHIELD.

As much as Tony loved the armor, he'd reached a point where he just wanted a fucking break, some time away from terrorists and wide-eyed supersoldiers and suspicious assassins. But given everything that Tony had found out recently, he only expected it would get worse.

He supposed it spoke volumes of the level of exasperation he'd reached that he didn't even panic anymore. "JARV, what is it?" he asked, already pulling on his undersuit.

"It would seem the trees in Central Park have come alive. All information indicates the involvement of magic."

Well, then, that definitely got Tony's interest. He suited up and left the tower, soaring high up above the skyscrapers.

Magic, huh? As far as he knew, there had been no developments in Asgard, but maybe he'd been wrong about that. Or maybe it wasn't Asgardian magic at all. That was always a possibility.

His communicator connected to the rest of the Avengers. The quinjet was not far behind him. "You guys hearing this? Seems today we're chopping up some ents. Dibs on Treebeard."

Clint let out a chuckle. "Stark, you've got issues, you know that?"

Oh, Clint had no idea. "What can I say? I get my kicks where I can."

"Guys, head in the game. Tony, how are things looking on your side?"

Tony reached Central Park and whistled at the impressive sight in front of him. Idly, he thought that a small army of Uruk-hai armed with axes wouldn't hurt right about then. Oh, well. Repulsors and lasers would have to do.

"Well, Cap, let me put it this way. If you're looking into campaigns against deforestation, you might want to put them on hold. We've got quite a job on our hands. "

His guess turned out to be right on the money. The damn trees were far more resilient than Tony would have liked. Thor and the Hulk were very good at splintering them, but weirdly, and creepily enough, the trees didn't stay down. And then the statues starting to come alive too, and Tony had to fight some dead presidents on top of the Treebeard impersonators. Just great.

"My friends!" Thor boomed. "Be wary. I believe I am familiar with this sorcery."

"Familiar?" Steve repeated as he bashed a tree with his shield. "Thor, what do you mean?"

No one said Loki's name. They all knew he was dead. Tony very carefully didn't address it either. It was a tricky situation, and while he didn't always avoid the subject around Thor, now was not the time to take chances.

"I am uncertain, Captain," Thor replied. He threw his hammer at a tree, and it flew straight through the trunk. The tree didn't seem deterred. Thor let out a disgruntled groan. "It is definitely Asgardian in nature, but I can't quite identify it."

Natasha's talents of breathtaking bendiness were wasted on the trees, so she had stayed on the quinjet and was targeting their opponents with the guns on the plane. "Well, if it's sorcery, there has to be a caster. Any sign of the culprit?"

"Nothing I can see," Clint replied. His explosive arrows were doing a fair amount of damage. "I vote to let the Hulk take care of everything."

"Well, the big guy's just getting frustrated because these things aren't staying smashed." Tony scanned the park, looking for the caster, or alternatively, a way to stop the spell. "Come on, JARV, help me out here. What are we looking at?"

"Readings do indicate the accumulation of Asgardian energy. It seems to target specific areas of the park."

The HUD lit up as JARVIS finally managed to complete the scan. Tony frowned. "Guys, I'm seeing an actual pattern here. It looks sort of like the love child of a pentagram and some other squigglies I don't understand."

Thor made a noise. "If we destroy the pattern, the spell should end."

"Makes sense. Disrupt the energy circuit, right?" After all, magic was just energy, the natural energy of the universe tapped into through the skill and talent of the caster. Or so a certain gorgeous sorcerer had explained to Tony.

Even if said sorcerer remained a secret to the rest of the Avengers, Tony's comment still made sense to the Avengers, since they had been living with Thor for a while now. "Indeed, Man of Iron," Thor confirmed. "Can you target it?"

"Definitely gonna try, Point Break."

It was little easier said than done, since Tony couldn't actually repulsor a hole through magic or whatever the fuck this was. He wouldn't even have been able to see the flare of energy without the suit's sensors, and he'd only managed to refine those through some added outside help. Hell, even with that boost, he'd almost missed it completely—this magic was subtle, elegant, and, to Tony's slight dismay, beautiful.

But Tony was an engineer, and he already had numbers flying in his head. The unibeam could provide enough energy to disrupt the circuit. If it didn't... Well, lightning from Thor might work too, but he'd have to send the pattern analysis to Thor, because apparently Thor could sense the magic, but only up to a point.

The problem was that there were no convenient pillars or stones or anything at all he could target. Tony would have to literally shoot at the ground and pray it worked. It was a little crazy, but the idea still had merit.

Tony powered up the unibeam, more than ready to stop fighting Fangorn Forest and head home. He picked the topmost point of the runic pattern as a tentative target.

He didn't get a chance to shoot.

"Look out!" Clint suddenly shouted through the communicators.

JARVIS's alerts were already screaming, and Tony turned, just in time to see a bolt of green magic strike the quinjet. Tony abandoned the previous plan and rushed in to catch the falling plane. He and Natasha might not get along, but he didn't actually want her dead.

The weight of the jet strained the suit, but Tony was determined, and he'd done far more with far less in the past. Besides, he didn't have to stabilize the plane for long. Thor joined in, abandoning his contribution to the deforestation of Fangorn for the benefit of assisting his shield-sister.

By the time he and Thor set the plane down, the rest of the Avengers—except Clint who was still on a perch nearby—were already gathering in one spot, right in front of the landing area. The Hulk leaped forward, a picture of anxiety and anger.

Tony secretly thought Bruce's crush on Natasha was quite adorable, even if slightly inconvenient.

The quinjet doors opened and Natasha walked out, blank-faced and all business. Cap scanned her from head to toe, but didn't ask if she was all right. He already knew the answer to that question.

"Okay, team, gather around. New plan. Tony, what are we looking at?"

Tony projected the pattern map through his armor, pointing to the general area he was targeting. Steve nodded. "We'll keep the trees busy while you do that. Thor, you're with Tony."

"On it, Cap," Tony said, already shooting in the air. Half-way up, the repulsors spluttered and the armor froze.

It wasn't like in cartoons, where the coyote still managed to run for ten seconds in mid-air before finally succumbing to gravity. Without power, the suit was fundamentally dead weight. And of course Tony had backup power, he had the flaps, but nothing worked, and he didn't have time to do much anyway.

He hit the ground—hard.

Thankfully, he hadn't been too high up when the armor had been immobilized, but pain still exploded over his side. He gritted his teeth and pushed it back to the corner of his mind. He'd be fine soon enough anyway. "JARVIS, reboot. Come on, come on."

It took a few precious moments, but at last, the armor recovered. The HUD and the communicators flared back to life. The first thing Tony heard was Thor's booming voice. "Amora, what is the meaning of this?"

Tony got up and took in the new situation. It seemed that while he'd been busy falling, the rest of the Avengers had found their spell caster, although not in a way they would have probably liked.

All of them, including Tony, were now encased in a strange bubble of green. Thor struck the bubble with Mjolnir, but to no avail. Cap tried the shield, predictably with a similar result. Natasha didn't move at all—she'd undoubtedly realized her skill set couldn't break her out of this trap. The most alarming thing was the fact that the Hulk was shrinking down to Bruce.

Shit.

In front of them stood a lovely, blond woman. She was dressed in a low cut green dress that accentuated her curves in all the right places. (What? Tony might be in a committed relationship, but he had eyes.) She wore black, green-accented stockings and the only actual concession to the fact that this was a battle were the dark green gauntlets.

Her gold curls were adorned with a sort of coronet—was that the word, coronet?—naturally, also green. Idly, Tony wondered what was it about Asgardian magic users and green. He'd have to remember to ask.

She smiled at Thor, but the expression held no warmth or amusement. "Thunderer. Don't tell me you haven't missed me?"

"You were exiled for a reason, Enchantress," Thor replied.

"Ah, yes, indeed. And now I'm back. Care to guess as to why that is?"

Before Thor could reply, a tall bald man carrying an axe manifested by Amora's side, carrying Clint's unresisting form. Steve cursed. "Clint!"

"Do not fear, Captain," Amora said as her companion unceremoniously dropped Clint to the ground. "Your underling is for the most part unharmed. I have plans for all of you."

She waved a hand, and another green bubble enveloped Clint. That was actually a good thing, because it meant Clint was not deemed harmless. Not much of a silver lining, but better than nothing.

Tony considered his chances of escaping the bubble. The armor seemed to have recovered, but Tony had not had the chance to test the repulsors against the magic. Well, it was likely expected of him, since Thor and Cap had already tried their hand at breaking their trap.

The green field of energy absorbed the repulsor blast with no problem. Tony wished he'd been surprised. He really wasn't. Still the attempt wasn't useless, since it gave Tony scans he could work with if it came down to using the unibeam.

Sadly, the attack also made Amora turn her attention to him. "Be patient, my dear armorsmith," she purred. "I'll be right with you in a moment. We'll have so much fun together. I can guarantee that you'll enjoy yourself, even if you are at my mercy."

"Not that I'm not flattered and all, but I have a distinct policy on how far I'm allowed to go with bondage, especially when magic is involved." It wasn't even a lie, which come to think of it, would have been hilarious if not for the alarming circumstances.

Amora arched a perfectly defined blond brow. The expression reminded Tony of someone else, of someone whose games he had long ago stop refusing. Fuck.

He'd never been more grateful for the face plate of the suit, because now was not the time for his body to remind him his secret boyfriend had been off planet for weeks now.

He was more than a little grateful when Thor intervened. "Amora, leave my shield-brothers be. It is me you want."

"It's charming that you think so, Thor, but no. It is not you that I want. Or at least, not only you."

Tony took advantage of the fact that, like most supervillains, Amora loved her monologues, and proceeded to continue his scans of the glowy field. "JARV, what are the chances of me busting out of here with the unibeam?"

"Scans suggests that the unibeam could break through the shield at full power. However, I am uncertain what the backlash would be, and there is still the other Avengers to consider. We do not know how Amora would react to you breaking out."

"Not to mention the angry looking axe murderer." Tony grimaced. Even if he did manage to get himself out, the backlash would delay him. Amora and the extra from Xena the Warrior Princess would take it out on the others.

While Tony went over his current predicament, Thor and Amora continued their little conversation. Tony abruptly tuned in when he heard a name he had not expected to be mentioned. "How did you escape your exile?" Thor asked.

"Oh, Thunderer. How do you think? With Loki gone, there is no one who can hold me back. Odin is weak. His power is fading. Loki was only ever the one to protect you from me."

Okay, that was an unexpected development. Suddenly, Amora looked very angry. Green energy swirled around her fingers.

"He was your brother, Thor. How could you let him die? How could you abandon him the way you did? Do you even know if they gave him a warrior's parting?"

Thor looked like he'd been struck. His hold on Mjolnir faltered. "I..."

"You abandoned him!" Amora shouted. "You cared nothing of his sorrow, of his blood. And even now, you stay here and play with your Midgardians while his memory is tarnished on Asgard."

Holy hell. Tony was torn between amazement, jealousy and a sort of ill-advised glee. Amora had apparently come to avenge Loki.

"Amora, there is no one who regrets Loki's death more than I," Thor said, his massive shoulders slumping. "If I could go back..."

"But you cannot, can you? And you are hiding from it, hiding from your responsibility!"

Clint chose this exact moment to wake up. "Wait... This is about Loki? That asshole deserved everything..."

Usually, Clint held his tongue about Loki, mostly out of sheer self-preservation. Thor didn't react well when Loki's name was mentioned, especially as a slur. But maybe Clint had a concussion or something, because apparently he'd forgotten about that bit.

"Oh, archer... I will have great fun breaking you into little pieces. I will break all of you, just like you broke him."

"Loki invaded Earth," Cap said, because of course he had to stand up for Clint. "We defended our home. If you want revenge, it's not us you should come after."

"Perhaps not, but it is a beginning. And you are a fool, Captain, if you think Loki ever wanted your puny realm."

Thor stared at her. "What do you mean?"

Amora sneered at Thor. "Come now, Thunderer. Look where you are. I immobilized you with ease. I took down your berseker. Loki was far more powerful than I. Do you truly think that, if he'd wanted this realm, he wouldn't have been able to beat you?"

Thor didn't reply. Tony had the urge to repulsor blast Thor in the face, because of course Thor had thought that. He'd thought Loki was weak. He'd never once considered there might have been more going on than what he'd seen.

"Sir?" JARVIS asked. "Should I activate the unibeam?"

Resentment swelled inside Tony, hot and bright. So many times, he had wanted to say something. He'd swallowed the words, swallowed the bitterness, because he had known that in the end, it would not help, and he had made a promise.

Maybe Amora would be doing him a favor, teaching Thor and the others a lesson, the way Tony never could. "Not yet, JARV." There was still the backlash to consider. Right?

"You always looked down on him," Amora continued, now on roll. "He was always loyal to you, but you cared nothing for him."

"That is a lie! Loki was my brother. I loved him."

"Oh, please. You could not even be bothered to honor him in death. How could you honor him in life?"

Thor's grip on the hammer tightened. Thunder echoed in the distance. For whatever reason, though, Thor didn't attempt to strike the bubble again. "And what of you, Enchantress?" he argued. "Where were you when Loki succumbed to his madness?"

"Not where I should have been. You are correct, Thunderer. I too was blinded by your brightness. But I am not blinded anymore, and I will have my revenge."

She lifted her hands, and the ground beneath them began to glow brighter. And that was when Tony remembered that for all that he resented the Avengers, he didn't actually want them to die. They would be needed in the future. Not to mention the little thing that he was just as trapped as the others were.

"JARVIS, unibeam, now!" There was no time to hesitate or consider the consequences, because clearly, if he didn't do something, they were all toast anyway.

The energy shot from the chest piece of the armor, shattering the green bubble. The contact between the two forces sent Tony flying back, the force of the blast stronger than he'd anticipated. Thankfully, JARVIS stabilized the armor mid-flight, and he didn't have another unfortunate meeting with the ground.

Amora didn't stop casting her spell. "Skurge!"

Her axe-wielding companion instantly shot into action. Tony flew over him, having every intention of interrupting whatever Amora was doing. He couldn't shoot the unibeam again, but disturbing her focus should be enough.

His repulsor blasts hit her—except they didn't—because as it turned out, the fact that she didn't have a fancy armor didn't mean she wasn't protected. And of course she had warding spells around her. Tony should have expected that. He felt like an idiot.

A blast of fire came out of nowhere, and Tony narrowly dodged it. He looked behind himself, only to see Skurge directing actual fire bolts at him, using the damn axe. What the fuck?

Okay, Skurge first. "JARV, missiles."

"We only have two missiles left, Sir."

Right, he'd spent them all on the trees. Great. Well, that would have to do. "Light him up."

The damn things had worked against tanks in Afghanistan. They'd work against a magical axe murderer.

The missiles hit their target, and it was Skurge's turn to be sent flying by an explosion. Tony directed his attention at Amora again.

It was too late. The armor was tugged down, just like it had been before. Tony cursed. This was bad. This was very, very bad. His boyfriend was going to kill him if Amora didn't.

Amora was now glowing so brightly she truly looked like a goddess. A swirling beam of magic left her hands, striking the Avengers in quick succession. It hit Tony last. Tony expected it to hurt, but he felt it sink into him, settle down, reach into his very core.

And then, something inside him fought back. This time, the backlash between the two forces was too much to contain. Tony's world exploded and everything went black.


	3. Betrayal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who read, kudosed and subscribed on this story! The encouragement helps a lot!

Tony hated hospitals. This was not a good thing, because in the superhero business, getting hurt came with the territory. Over the years, Tony had been shot at, been thrown out windows (apparently defenestration was a thing with villains, and not all of them were nice enough to apologize for it later), had several structures and vehicles explode/be hacked to pieces while he was still inside, and of course, flown a fucking nuclear missile into space. Adding the just-Tony-Stark-genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist list (which really took the cake by virtue of open heart surgery and arc reactor insertion in an Afghani cave) to the Iron Man list made the times he'd been in life threatening danger or suffered various kinds of injuries at least alarming.

Tony had thus reached the conclusion that he was simply too stubborn to die—much like Captain America, and more interestingly, certain gorgeous Norse gods.

At any rate, recent developments had made it particularly important for Tony to avoid the natural hospitalization process. He'd never been a huge fan, not even before the reactor, and that hadn't changed once he'd had it removed—and nearly killed himself on the operating table. But it wasn't bad memories that worried him, oh, no. Tony had far more serious concerns.

Which was why it was a very good thing that he woke up just as he was being carried into a hospital room by a very tense Captain America.

"Guh?" Tony asked eloquently.

Steve set him down on the bed with a gentleness that belied his massive form and those incredible muscles. "Tony... Oh, my God. Are you all right? Can you hear me?"

Tony blinked and for the first time registered that there were other people in the room, doctors and nurses looming over him. Fortunately, he was still in the armor, so they hadn't gotten the chance to poke at him yet.

They were SI-employed doctors, since Tony had taken matters in his own hands after SHIELD had collapsed, but that didn't mean he trusted them. He tried to wave them off, but wasn't in the least bit successful. "I can hear you fine, Cap. Can you just... get these people out of my face?"

He was not surprised when the response he received was Steve's patented disappointed face. "You're hurt, Tony. You need a doctor to see you."

Actually, no—Tony needed to get out of here, go home, get some homegrown Asgardian Advil, and some sexy Asgardian prince lovin, preferably in that order. But that wasn't likely to happen anytime soon.

He didn't remove his armor entirely, but he did remove the helmet, and he complied to the medical checkup with only moderate grumbling. At this point, the wooziness had melted into a moderate headache and the bruising around his ribs didn't hurt much either, but he faked a concussion easily enough. When the doctors insisted to check him over for additional injuries, he naturally refused.

No one was surprised, but Steve still tried to mother him. Tony let out an irritated breath. "Steve, give me a break. I know my own body. We've got other priorities here." Without bothering with any sort of comment, he pushed past the doctors and left the hospital room, Steve trailing behind him. "What happened with the others?"

"We took Amora and Skurge down after you..." Steve cleared his throat, as if having trouble finishing the phrase. "We couldn't wake you. JARVIS's override codes for the armor didn't work either, and we didn't want to tear it off until we got you to the hospital."

Good man, JARVIS. All that work on JARVIS's new threat assessment protocols had apparently paid off.

"The magic really screwed with the armor," he said. "So no one's hurt? What about the spell she was casting?"

"It backfired at the last minute, when it hit you. Natasha thinks it must be because of the reactor."

"Makes sense. It screwed with the Glowstick of Destiny, even if at the time, it was embedded in my chest."

Before Steve could say anything else, Tony ran into Natasha and Clint. Natasha leaned against the wall and she straightened when she saw them approach. "Everything okay?" she asked.

"As much as can be expected." Steve sighed. "He won't take the armor off."

Natasha pursed her lips in an unusually overt display of disapproval. Tony grimaced. "Told you I could take care of myself, Cap. I'm totally fine."

"Your history with that sort of thing isn't the best, Tony," Natasha said.

"Way to bring up old wounds, Romanov. I'm hurt, hurt deep inside." He patted the Iron Man arc reactor. "Right here."

Natasha didn't react, but he didn't expect her to. Then again, he wasn't quite sure _what_ to expect. Her presence here was odd. She was usually with Bruce after a battle, since he had to recover after a Hulk out. Thor was more liable to hover around. Especially since his brother's supposed death, he'd become very conscious of his friends' mortality. It was one of those things that would have made Tony feel like shit for the secrets he was keeping—if not for all the other stuff he knew. Clint did hang around Natasha pretty often, but he also liked to take some time to himself—a creepy sniper thing, most likely. But Nat and Thor? Yeah, that was weird.

Tony wondered if he'd done anything to make them suspicious. Fuck, he hoped not. It wasn't easy to lie to the Black Widow. He'd been doing fine so far, but only because she hadn't been actively looking into it. If she started to suspect... Well, suffice to say, he had a contingency plan in mind for that, but he really hoped he wouldn't have to use it.

"So what happened with the Asgardian Playboy bunny and her axe murderer boyfriend?"

"They've been detained," Natasha reported. "Thor says he'd take them to Asgard in the morning."

"Good riddance, I say," Clint grumbled. "Just when you think Loki won't be trouble anymore..."

Tony was very grateful no one, especially not Natasha, was looking at him, because he suspected he looked pretty annoyed at Clint's comment. He carefully schooled his features and said, "I get where you're coming from, Legolas. Just be careful with saying it in front of Thor. Haven't had the time to fix the Wii since his last tantrum."

He meant to lighten up the situation a bit, but Clint was clearly more upset than he'd let on. "Whatever, Tony. I'm gonna go."

Without another word, Clint turned and stalked on ahead. Tony blinked after him."Uh. Was it something I said?"

Natasha shook her head. "It's just... You know... Loki."

Steve squeezed his shoulder. Tony swore he could feel it through the armor. "Not your fault, Tony. Come on. Let's go back to the Tower."

"Meet you there?" Tony asked. "Need the assembly rig for this armor."

Natasha and Steve both nodded. Tony had the feeling that he was missing something again. He had to look into it—and now.

As soon as they were outside, he put his helmet back on and waved. As he launched himself into the air, he immediately connected to JARVIS. "JARV, hit me. Did they say anything while I was out?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, Sir."

JARVIS pulled up the feed from the battle, and Tony watched the rest of the Avengers thrash Amora and Skurge after he'd been downed. Bruce was extra angry and took extra joy in smashing. Steve seemed genuinely worried about Tony, and Natasha was even stonier-faced than usual.

"At the time, I could not connect with them and reassure them of your condition. I believe they deemed your state more serious than it was."

"Any idea on what happened, then? How could she immobilize the armor?"

"The arc reactor was never in any danger, but it appears she disrupted the circuitry that actually fed into the repulsors. As for the other spell, we are not certain yet, but it seems the wards on you have successfully countered it."

"Yeah." Tony let out a relieved breath. "Gotta remember to give Lo an extra nice blowjob, although really, he should have warned me..."

He trailed off when another thought occurred to him. "JARVIS, did Thor talk about what would happen to her? To Amora?"

JARVIS pulled up a surveillance video, apparently taken from the quinjet right before Tony had been brought in to the hospital.

"So what's going to stop her from doing this again?" Clint asked. "I mean, no offense to you, Thor, but you didn't seem to do such a good job at containing her the first time around."

Thor sighed and rubbed the strap of Mjolnir between his fingers. "Amora was banished, exiled under pain of death. Her exile and capture can only mean one thing. She will meet with the axe."

Well, fuck.

"JARV, remember the time you warned me it was inadvisable to get involved with a supervillain?"

"How could I forget, Sir?"

"You were probably right. But... Damn, you know what to do."

"Of course. I've already detected the best route toward the Hulk cage and the cell block where Skurge is being held and have set up the right protocols for the video feed."

Tony couldn't help a smile. "What would I do without you, JARV? You know me so well."

"In all fairness, Sir, your new relationship has proven to be generally beneficial to your well-being and state of mind. I am merely doing my utmost to preserve the status quo."

Tony laughed. He couldn't help it. "Don't let Lo hear you say that. He'd freak out if he thought you actually liked him."

"Noted, Sir." A pause. "The preparations are complete."

Tony thought one more time about what he was going to do, and what would happen if he didn't. "Okay, JARV. On standby until we're all clear. Tonight, we're busting a supervilainess out."

****

It had all been going so well. There had been a mild hiccup with the armorsmith being able to bypass her shield, but Skurge had stalled him long enough to allow Amora to finish her spell.

And then, there had been a massive explosion—again, emanating from the Norns-bedamned Man of Iron. Amora had lost her hold on the force fields keeping the Avengers at bay, and everything had turned into chaos.

The Man of Iron was out for the count, and it took one look at him for the mild-mannered Doctor Banner to turn into the Hulk again. Amora had tried to flee, but she had been dazed and unable to summon a teleportation spell.

In the end, it had been Thor who'd caught her. The beast had taken care of Skurge's resistance. As far as she knew, he was still alive, but he was in no condition to help her.

All because of the Man of Iron. Once she got out of here, she would find a way to destroy him—permanently. She had clearly underestimated him.

It was almost amusing, since she had acknowledged the fact that his science was akin to seidr, and she of all people should have known better than to underestimate magic users. She would not be making that mistake again.

If she lived, that is. Thor was furious, and undoubtedly would be taking her to Asgard, for execution. Skurge too. That was exceedingly regrettable.

Without the All-Mother to temper him, Odin would undoubtedly kill her before the day was out.

But there was a long way to go between the Bifrost and Odin's throne room. Her Midgardian bindings were effective, keeping her from calling her magic—and damn Thor for revealing that weakness to the mortals—but she wasn't dead yet, and her beauty was still her greatest weapon. Not even Thor was fully immune to it, nor were Odin's most loyal guards. All she needed was a single moment of inattention, and she could escape.

Time passed as she lay alone in the strange, transparent cell. She was being watched, so she didn't move too much. She tested the bindings around her wrists, but she could not break them.

She settled down cross-legged on the floor and let her mind wonder into her meditation routine. Her magic was trapped beneath her skin, but that didn't mean she couldn't connect with it.

She remembered a time when she and Loki had been seated on floor of the Asgardian royal library, in this exact same position. They'd held hands as they meditated, and they hadn't deemed it inappropriate, even if by then, Amora had already been at an age where even spending time alone with a young man had been scandalous.

She clenched her hands into fists, imagining that she could still feel the ghost of his fingertips over her own. This was stupid. This was the basest sentiment. What would this reminiscing bring her? It had only led her to a cage of her own, a cage just like Loki's. And Amora was many things, but she was not a tragic lovelorn maiden, ready to die because her lover had.

She was not wrong in wanting to avenge him. But first, she had to rescue herself and Skurge. Then, she could regroup, plan another attack.

Perhaps she could talk to Karnilla. The Norn Queen had been fond of Loki, in her own way. Then again, Loki might have burned that bridge while Amora had been away. She'd heard something about a skirmish in Nornheim in which Thor, Loki and those four idiots had been involved.

It was still worth a shot, she supposed.

A dull thud outside the door of her cell startled her from her thoughts. Amora straightened, wondering if perhaps Skurge could have escaped on his own.

The lights flickered, turned off and back on, then settled into something dimmer. The door opened. There was no one there.

Amora squinted. No... That wasn't right. There was somebody there. Amora didn't share Loki's interest in illusion magic, but she'd witnessed it plenty of times. She felt the presence, the energy of the cloaked person.

She got up and narrowed her eyes at the approaching presence. The gag around her mouth kept her from speaking and from casting her magic, but whoever this new arrival was, it couldn't possibly be a friend.

The door to the cell slid open. A strong, distinctly metallic hand gripped her arm. Amora's eyes widened.

Tony Stark? The Man of Iron? Or was it someone else altogether, someone impersonating him perhaps?

The invisible armored man picked her up into his arms. Amora finally remembered herself and began to struggle, clumsily clawing at the faceplate of the armor.

"Don't," came a frustrated voice, and yes, that was definitely the Man of Iron. "I'm trying to help you, but we don't have much time. Fight me and I'll leave you here. I'm not in the mood to explain to the others why I'm busting you out."

Amora was still suspicious, but she did indeed stop fighting. This was her best chance. She had no idea what reasons the Man of Iron could have to help her, but she was out of the cage, and on her way to freedom.

Beyond that, nothing mattered.

The Man of Iron carried her hastily out of the room. Two unconscious guards lay slumped against the floor outside, but the armorsmith walked past them without faltering He seemed to know where he was going. They went down several levels, until finally, they reached something that looked like a cell block.

Amora's eyes widened when she saw Skurge in one of the cells. He was pinned down by Mjolnir. Apparently, he had been struggling badly enough that Thor had deemed this necessary.

Her poor loyal Skurge.

The Man of Iron hesitated. Clearly, he was wary of Skurge, as he rightly needed to be. Skurge was not called the Executioner for nothing.

In the end, he seemed to make some sort of decision, because he set Amora down and stepped forward. The lock sizzled as the Man of Iron use some sort of weapon to break through. Alarms began to blare. And it occurred to Amora that they couldn't possibly save Skurge, not with Mjolnir on top of him.

When the hammer floated off Skurge, Amora turned, thinking she would see Thor standing in the corridor. Thor was nowhere in view. The hammer was set back down—by the Man of Iron.

Amora had so many questions now that she was all the more irritated by the gag. But there was no time to ask them.

As Skurge got up, the Man of Iron cursed at the alarms. "Come on. We need to move."

Amora nodded at Skurge, and her Executioner followed without question. The Man of Iron led them up several flights of stairs, through a strange passage, and into a Midgardian elevator.

The elevator left them in what seemed to be a parking garage. A car beeped as they approached. "Get in. In the back. Keep your heads down and don't do anything until JARVIS says so."

"JARVIS?" the Executioner asked.

"That would be me," the vehicle said.

Oh, how interesting. The Man of Iron had a familiar.

Amora complied, and both she and the Executioner got into the car. The vehicle drove off without anyone behind the wheel. As the car engaged itself in traffic, Skurge busied himself with freeing Amora from her bindings.

It took a while, but he was strong and determined, and at last she was loose. "Enchantress, forgive me," he said. "I should have never allowed your capture."

"It was not your fault." She patted his knee. "There were unexpected circumstances."

"The armormsith."

Amora nodded. Who was Tony Stark really? Why had he let her go?

He had not given any explanations, although he'd obviously known that what he was doing could get him into significant trouble. Had it been the spell? No. It was not possible. It had not been designed to make the Avengers love her, and besides, if that had been his reason, he'd have acted in an entirely different manner.

He hadn't been a thrall. He'd been himself. And he'd been worthy of Mjolnir. How?

"Yes, Skurge," she belatedly replied. "The armorsmith."

She remembered they were still in the car guided by the Man of Iron's familiar. She cleared her throat slightly—she really did hate those damn gags—and said, "Familiar, tell me. Why did your master let us go?"

"Sir has his reasons. I would advise you to accept the gesture in the spirit in which it was meant and do not make another attempt on his life and those of the other Avengers."

Amora narrowed her eyes. She didn't know if the familiar could see her, but she couldn't help but convey her disapproval. "You presume much for a bodiless servant."

"My purpose is only to ensure Sir's wellbeing. It is your choice whether you take his advice or not. He will not be so courteous twice."

The familiar said nothing more, and Amora's skills were wasted on it. Amora waited for a little while longer to recuperate from the battle and then took Skurge's hand.

"Farewell, familiar. We will meet again."

She teleported herself and the Executioner out of the moving vehicle and into the small house that she's picked for her lair here on Midgard. It would have been a pain to go back to Alfheim every single night, so she'd selected a quaint cottage in the mountainous region of the Midgardian United States. It was far enough away to give her time and space to recover the full extent of her powers and consider her next actions.

Today could have been a disaster, but in the end, it hadn't turned out too bad. She had found out several important secrets she could use against the Avengers, which was just as good as a successful spell.

Yes, they had lost the Bloodaxe, but they'd be able to take it back soon enough.

"I think, my Executioner, that we have stumbled onto something very interesting."

After all, love might be the most destructive emotion, but it was betrayal that was truly the root of all evil. Loki had been betrayed. Perhaps it was suitable that the betrayal of an Avenger would lead to the downfall of the Midgardians.


	4. Fucked Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So first off, thank you to everyone who's left comments, read and kudosed this story. I find that I enjoy writing something that's so different (and yes, I'm still proud that I actually came up with a ship that's not on AO3) and I'm glad you find it interesting.  
> By the way, I haven't read the comics, so comic-relevant information will be largely acquired from encyclopedias and stuff like that.   
> Onwards!

"How can this be?" Thor slammed his hands against the table, and the metal groaned under the abuse. "I thought the cells were well guarded."

"I don't know what to tell you, Point Break," Tony said, rubbing his eyes, "beyond the fact that I really, really hate magic. I have no idea how they could have gotten in."

The lie tasted bitter on his tongue. Since he'd let Amora and Skurge go, he'd begun to understand the ramifications of his decision. If they killed anyone—which was entirely possible—that blood would be on his hands. The Merchant of Death all over again.

He consoled himself with the thought that he'd taken some precautions and he'd know if the Enchantress was up to some... enchanting, but realistically, he knew that was just an excuse. And yet, if he'd had to do things over, he didn't think he'd have taken it back. He was so fucked up.

Bruce stepped up to him and pressed a hand to his shoulder. "Are you feeling okay, Tony? You took a pretty bad blow in the battle. You shouldn't be up and around just yet."

Steve nodded. "You're still recovering from the concussion."

"I'm fine." Tony waved a hand. "It's not like I could rest knowing that someone got in the Tower, just like that. Any clue how they got rid of Mjolnir?"

Thor deflated. "I know not, Man of Iron. Mjolnir should only obey those worthy of her strength. I cannot imagine what kind of scheme the Enchantress might have used to twist Mjolnir's magic."

"Could she have allied herself with someone else?" Natasha asked.

"It is possible. Amora was apprenticed with Karnilla, the Norn Queen, prior to her exile from Asgard. She is a sorceress of great skill. My brother spoke of her magic often."

Bruce scowled. "So it's not impossible that this... Karnilla would have busted Amora out, maybe out of similar resentment?"

"Not impossible at all. Indeed, the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. Although, I must admit I did not expect an overt attack on Midgard from Karnilla's part. But perhaps that is where Amora comes in. We have no way of proving it was actually Karnilla behind it all."

"Well, this is just great, Thor." Tony groaned, and the exasperation wasn't actually faked. Loki wasn't going to be happy about this development. "Another sorceress. So what can we expect next? Tentacles? Demons? Maybe huge spiders if we're following the Tolkien motif?"

"Anything is possible. Amora wields great power."

"What's her deal anyway?" Clint asked. "Is she Loki's girlfriend or what?"

"Not exactly." Thor scowled down at his hands. "They were childhood friends. For a long time, they were very close, learning seidr together. At one point, many people did not quite approve of their friendship."

Tony mentally thanked Clint for approaching the topic, so he wouldn't have to. Loki had never mentioned Amora so he was curious. Not jealous, not siree. Curious. Yep, he was going with that. "Why?"

"It was... inappropriate. My brother was a young man, and she a beautiful young woman. They spent a lot of time together behind closed doors, and most Aesir did not believe that it was in lessons and not in carnal pursuits."

Tony had never really liked Asgard. They'd treated Loki like crap just for being different. It made sense that they'd have a problem with female sexuality too.

"At any rate, my brother and I were close too, so indirectly, Amora and I met often. She became... obsessed with me. I did not trust her, so I did not pursue it. The matter escalated, and she attempted to cast a love spell on me. Loki stopped her."

"Wait, a love spell?" Tony gaped at Thor. "That's an actual thing?"

Thor nodded. "It is Amora's specialty. The Executioner whom you saw is her thrall. We are lucky you managed to interrupt her casting, for she could have turned us all into slaves."

Clint twitched. "I'm not liking Asgardian magic much, Thor."

"So, how did you stop her?" Natasha asked. "As far as I could tell, you were surprised that she'd come. What did Loki do?"

Right, Amora had mentioned that Loki had been the one to protect Thor. That had to suck. Tony wished he'd repulsored Amora in the face for forcing Loki into that choice. Too late now.

"Loki was the only one who knew the true limits of Amora's power. He kept my mind safe and he delivered her onto the All-Father. Normally, her actions would have been deemed treasonous and warranted immediate execution, but my father was merciful and sentenced her to exile. Her magic was bound through unbreakable shackles."

"So you just let her go after she tried to mind-control you?" Clint asked in disbelief. "That doesn't sound like a very good idea."

No, it didn't, but it did sound like something Loki would do for a friend. Knowing him, he'd probably cut a deal of sorts with his asshole of a dad, so that at the very least, Amora would live.

"Perhaps not," Thor said, "but it has worked until now. Without Loki... I do not know how to stop her, my friends. I will have to return to Asgard, to seek council from the All-Father."

Tony very carefully kept a straight face. That wasn't good. The last thing Loki needed was for Thor to return to Asgard. But there was nothing he could do to stop it. "So you think she'll come back."

"She will most definitely return," Thor confirmed.

"Well then, we'd better be ready for it." Steve clapped his hands together. "Nat, Clint, make sure the Tower is secure, and be ready to assemble. Tony, you get some rest. You look terrible."

"Gee, thanks, Cap," Tony drawled sarcastically. "Don't spare my ego or anything."

"Steve's right, Tony," Natasha offered. "You need to be at your best. Besides, my impression was that Amora was very pissed at you. She's liable to come after you first."

Bruce's eyes flashed green before they settled back into their usual brown. He grabbed Tony's arm. "Come on. I'll make you some curry. Knowing you, you've probably skipped the last three meals in a science binge."

"Sir has had an apple this morning and three smoothies since then," JARVIS reported, the little traitor.

Tony was pinned with three reproachful looks—from Steve, Bruce, and strangely enough, Natasha. "Okay, food and sleep. One of us will stick around with you to make sure you'll safe."

Tony stared at Steve. "Cap, it's not that I don't appreciate the concern, but I'm not defenseless, you know. And JARVIS has my back." He could tell Steve wanted to protest, so he quickly added, "I won't say no to some curry, though."

That was how they all ended up on gathered on the common floor, bent over their bowls of curry. Tony sat on the couch, between Steve and Natasha. Bruce stretched down on the floor at his feet, looking relaxed for the first time that day.

Thor ate, but was otherwise subdued and kept stealing glances in Tony's direction. Clint was conspicuously silent. It was awkward, almost as awkward as that first shwarma meal had been, when Tony had still been having flashes of the darkness beyond the portal and Thor had been brooding over Loki and they'd all been stressing over Coulson's apparent death.

Idly, Tony wondered if Natasha and Clint had ever found out their handler had survived Loki's attack. Tony himself hadn't known it, not until Loki had mentioned it, but the two assassins had been SHIELD through and through before Hydra had reared its ugly head. Or one of its ugly heads, at least.

As good as Bruce's curry was, Tony was relieved when he finished and he could make his escape. Naturally, the others insisted on keeping him company, but Tony refused. He needed some privacy, to regroup and see where he went from here.

He ignored the kicked puppy look on Steve's face, as well as Bruce's scowl and the barely discernible furrow in Natasha's brow. "I'll be fine," he said. "JARVIS will keep an eye out and will alert you if anything happens."

He didn't wait for the protests that were sure would follow. Instead, he took the elevator and retreated back to the safety of the workshop.

Once he was inside, JARVIS obscured the glass and Tony felt the tension drain out of him. "God, Jay. I need a holiday. Somewhere for just me and Loki. Ideally involving a lot of nakedness."

"Sadly, Sir, I cannot seem to find any way to provide a vacation that fits those parameters."

"I know, Jay." Tony slumped against the nearest worktable. "Do you think I did the right thing? About Amora?"

"I do not know, Sir. It depends on what she will do next. She seemed intrigued by your choice. But on the other hand, if you had not done it, you would have regretted it."

"Yeah..."

How could he not, after all? Loki had already lost so much. Even judging by the simple fact that Amora felt strongly enough about Loki to come avenge him, Tony had realized she and Loki had been friends. Thor had confirmed it. Tony couldn't imagine what watching his friend die would have done to Loki.

"This really sucks, Jay. And not in the fun, Silver Tongue way."

Dummy pulled on his sleeve and Tony turned, only to blink when he saw that at one point during his conversation with JARVIS, a Golden Apple and a message had appeared on the table.

Tony ignored the apple and reached for the message first. He had not realized how much lack of contact from Loki had weighed on him until Loki actually reached out.

The message was written in Loki's familiar, tidy script, the letters as elegant as their writer. Tony avidly drank in every word.

  


_My dear Midgardian,_

_I wish I could come in person, but alas, it is impossible for me at this time. Rest assured that I am watching, and as soon as I can spare a moment, I will visit._

_In the meantime, be wary. Amora's spells are powerful, and even if she did fail the first time, she might not make the same mistake again._

_I must apologize, Anthony, for this is largely my fault. I did not believe Amora would do anything like this and to be honest, I wished for her to have her magic back for, else Thanos claim her life when he comes._

_But do not fret. I will deal with the matter._

_Thank you, Anthony. As ever, you are in my thoughts._

_Loki_

  


Tony read the message five times before he could make himself set it down. Predictably, the paper burst into flames once Tony was done with it. Tony watched it burn until there was no trace of it left behind.

Loki never said "I love you" and he never offered empty promises. Neither did Tony. They both knew their relationship had no future. They hadn't gone into this alliance with the intention of falling into bed together. Hell, chances were that one or both of them would not even survive Thanos's impending invasion. But in the dark hours of the night, when he couldn't sleep and Loki was worlds away, Tony admitted to himself that he'd fallen for Loki, and fallen hard.

Sometimes, when Loki did come to him, when he fell upon Tony and devoured him, turning him into a puddle of aroused goo, Tony thought Loki might feel the same. And he wished he could do more. He wished he wasn't stuck here, on Earth, while Loki was alone on Asgard, pretending to be his adoptive father just so that he could rebuild Asgard's defenses and prepare them for the invasion. It was why he did crazy things like let murdering sorceresses go.

God, love was a pain in the ass.

Shaking himself, Tony pushed the thought back before he could break out in hives. Time to get to work instead of mooning over Loki like a lovestruck maiden. "JARVIS, where is Amora now?"

"The tracker you left on the Enchantress seems to be in the Rocky Mountains. Satellite surveillance shows a small house in the area.

JARVIS brought up the data in a holographic display. Tony manipulated the hologram one-handed. With his free hand, he took the apple Loki had sent. And as he bit down into the fruit, he found that he was at least a little relieved.

Freeing Amora might have been unwise, but Loki had thanked him for it—and that was already a plus. Amora was apparently staying out of trouble for now, another plus. Hopefully, she'd continue keeping her head down until Loki could get her and handle this mess. Tony was so tired of having things blow up in his face.

****

It was only days later that Tony realized they'd all made a gross miscalculation. He'd been hiding in the lab, having JARVIS monitor Amora for any sign of her going on a murderous spree, occasionally testing the strange axe which gave out the weirdest readings and devouring every single note that came from Loki.

Thor did go to Asgard and returned with a promise from the All-Father that he would look into it, although the repairs in Asgard continued to have priority. Tony was relieved that Thor had not stayed too long in the Golden Realm, since it could have caused an endless amount of trouble.

Steve and Bruce occasionally dropped by the workshop, presumably to check up on Tony. That wasn't necessarily odd, since Steve was protective of his team—losing everyone he loved would do that to a guy, although presumably his bestie was still around—and Bruce was Tony's science bro.

Even Natasha came in with Clint. Natasha did ask Tony to look over her Widow Bites, but she also told him to take better care of himself.

Tony had just decided it was probably just nerves after having another battle with a potentially evil Asgardian magic user when things got weird. Well, weirder.

In hindsight, Tony should have noticed sooner. But for all that he'd lived in the spotlight for the better part of his life, he didn't particularly like people. He preferred robots, coding, science, things he could quantify. That was why he and Loki got along so well. Loki understood his obsession, because he was the same way. He didn't expect Tony to be anything except his regular genius, mouthy self, because he was a genius and a sarcastic little shit too, and when they weren't snipping at each other, they were working together or fucking.

So okay, maybe that was why Tony didn't actually notice the weirdness—because he kept getting distracted by thinking about Loki. This whole mess with Amora had gotten to him more than he'd have liked to admit.

He noticed it pretty quickly the day Bruce and Natasha happened to come over at the same time. Bruce had brought him a sandwich, and Tony shot his science bro a grateful smile. Since Loki had given him the Apple, he ate more, but it was hard to do it without the Avengers taking note and wondering about it.

"Thanks, Brucey. So what's up with you? Get anything off the trees?"

"There is a level of gamma radiation in the area, which I'm assuming is because of the magic, but I still can't imagine why they went... entish."

"I have a different dilemma," Natasha offered. "If Amora is to be believed, Loki could have done something similar. But he didn't. Why is that?"

The key with Natasha was to treat every conversation like it was an interrogation, and every comment like a way to fish for information. Tony hoped like hell she didn't actually suspect him and said what he would have shortly after New York. "I've been wondering about that too. It makes no sense. I mean, Thor used to say that Loki's strength was in tricks and illusions, but after seeing Amora... I'm doubtful. I don't suppose Clint knows anything?"

Natasha shook her head. "If he does, he hasn't said it. And I don't want to push him, Antoshka."

Tony froze. Antoshka? What? Since when did Natasha have a pet name for him?

Come to think of it, since when did Natasha not threaten to disembowel someone if they asked about Clint?

"Uh... Nat? You feeling okay? You maybe want to sit down or something?"

Natasha arched a brow at him, her lips twisting into a small, barely perceivable smile. "Tony, you do realize I'm a trained assassin. I'm not exactly breakable."

"Still, that doesn't mean you can't get sick." Because that was the only acceptable explanation for Natasha calling him Anthoshka.

Natasha leaned over ever so slightly and her shoulder brushed Tony's. "I'm not sick, I can promise you that."

Bruce made a noise, and Tony turned to face his science bro. Bruce's eyes glowed green. And Tony had never been afraid of the Hulk, not even when he'd been a breakable human with more money than sense, but he didn't want to lose Bruce's friendship over a misunderstanding with Natasha.

"Brucey, you're looking a little green there, buddy. Seriously, there's no need to get mad. Nat's all yours."

But Bruce wasn't listening. His skin shifted and his body expanded and Tony might be Bruce's friend, but he still took cover and wondered how quickly he could get the armor to come to him before Bruce decided to use his body to redecorate the lab.

Bruce roared and sent a table flying with a wave of his massive fist. Tony cursed. "Seriously, Banner, we're going to have words about this."

The Iron Man armor came alive, activated by JARVIS. It distracted Bruce just long enough for Natasha to grab Tony's arm and pull him toward the exit. Bruce's fist went straight through the armor, narrowly avoiding the reactor, thank God. His gaze zeroed in on Tony and Natasha. "Move, Anthoshka!" Natasha shouted.

And she had her Widow Bites out, ready to stand her ground even if the Hulk could tear her apart. Like hell was Tony going to allow that. Bruce would never forgive himself if he did something to Natasha. Meanwhile, Tony could take a beating courtesy of Loki's favor. He'd kept the whole Apple thing a secret, but if the Avengers asked about it, he could tell them he'd been fiddling with Extremis.

Guns and armors were useless now. Tony shoved Natasha out of the way and gestured for JARVIS to stand down. He stepped forward toward the Hulk. "Easy there, Big Green. We're okay here. See, no one is trying to hurt..."

A massive green arm grabbed Tony's hand and Tony yelped as Bruce pulled him in. Tony prepared himself for getting smashed. No such thing happened.

Bruce's arms were strikingly gentle as they enveloped Tony in a hug. "Metal Man Hulk's. Hulk keep safe."

Okaay then. That was much better than being smashed. Tony patted Hulk's massive green pectoral, all the while gesturing for Natasha to go. She complied, much to Tony's relief. Once she was gone, some of the tension went out of Tony. "Thanks, Big Green. Always nice to know you have my back. But I'm perfectly safe here. We're at home at the Tower."

"Bad woman want take Metal Man." Hulk's hold on Tony tightened, although it was still not strong enough to hurt Tony. "Metal Man Hulk's."

And Tony might have been terrible at people, but he was, in the end, a genius, and it didn't take long for realization to dawn. He slumped against Hulk's massive chest.

Loki's warning had been more correct than Loki himself had realized. And Tony had fucked up big time. Damn it.


	5. Spells and Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have been thinking about a name for this "ship", but I forgot to mention it yesterday. IzHunny reminded me yesterday.  
> I don't think the Amora/Tony pairing has a name either, although there are a handful of stories with the pairing. But I'm making it a thing, so there :) Tentatively, courtesy of IzHunny's suggestions and my own adaptations, what I'm going with is Iron Charms and Frostiron Charms.  
> If anyone has other ideas, they are more than welcome.  
> Also, I have reached the conclusion that I can blame this madness on Avengers Academy. Seriously, I love that game. Tony and Loki are now "study" partners, and I've forgotten how many times Tony and Amora shared the hot tub. Not to mention the sorcerer rivalry Amora and Loki have going on. Seriously, it's like fanfiction come to life. And you know you have a problem when pixelated Loki says "you love my brother more than me" and you clutch your tablet and say "no, you're my favorite". Ahem.  
> ANYWAY! Here's the new chapter. Hope you like it.

Once the Hulk turned back into Bruce, the first thing he did was apologize profusely. "I'm so sorry, Tony. I don't know what came over me. I just... I got so angry when... when..."

Tony squeezed his science bro's shoulder. "It's okay, Brucey. No harm done. The bots are fine and it's just one armor that you wrecked. And besides, it wasn't your fault, not really. I think I can guess what's going here, but first we gotta talk to the others."

Tony herded Bruce to his floor to change—or rather, put some clothes on—more or less standing guard, since he didn't want Bruce to turn tail and run. He wanted to tell Bruce his suspicions, but he had to double check first, because if he was wrong, he'd just hurt Bruce more in the end.

He had JARVIS gather everyone for a team meeting on the common floor. As it turned out, they were already there. "They have been arguing about the Hulk situation for an hour, Sir," JARVIS reported.

"Yeah? What did they say?"

"Captain Rogers repeatedly expressed his concern for you. He wanted to intervene. Agent Romanov volunteered to lure Doctor Banner out of the lab. Agent Barton was strongly against this suggestion. Prince Thor believed they should put their trust in Doctor Banner. They are, as you say, at a stalemate."

"Well, it's moot point, since Brucey wasn't going to hurt me anyway. Thor was right about that, at least."

"Indeed, Sir."

Bruce reemerged from his bedroom, looking like a lamb about to go to the slaughter. Tony waved at him. "Cheer up, Brucey. I promise there's an explanation for this. The Hulk's not always to blame."

He managed to coax a small smile out of Bruce, but that smile quickly faded when they took the elevator to the common floor. The Avengers were all dressed in their uniforms, ready for battle. Steve actually lifted his shield when he saw Bruce.

Tony quickly stepped forward and started to speak before Steve could say something he'd surely regret later. "So Bruce and I are fine. But I'm getting a bad feeling about what's going on here, so I'm going to ask you guys some pretty invasive questions and I'll need you to be straight with me."

Steve nodded and straightened his back, as if he was preparing himself for battle. "We'll do our best, Tony."

Tony suppressed the urge to face palm, because now that he was paying attention, he could definitely see the glitter of interest in Steve's eyes. Well, that sort of answered that. But, still, they had to get it out in the open, if only for Bruce's sake. Not to mention that he wasn't sure about Clint and Thor yet. They hadn't seemed to catch the I-love-Tony bug. Even now, they didn't look nearly as interested in Tony as Steve, Natasha and Bruce.

"Okay, so here's the deal. This whole mess with Bruce started when Natasha called me by a Russian endearment. And then, it turns out that the Hulk is possessive of me and he think Natasha is a bad woman trying to steal me a way. I don't know about you guys, but I think that's very strange, given that a few days ago, Bruce and Natasha were so lovey-dovey I was ready to ask Legolas to step in with Cupid's arrows."

Realization dawned on Steve's face. "You think this is Amora's fault."

Tony nodded. "The spell hit me last, Cap. The reactor protected me, but you guys, not so much. So I gotta know... Have any of you been feeling off lately?"

Steve fidgeted, looking more like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar than Captain America. Thor glared at Mjolnir. Clint was doing that sniper thing where he didn't move a muscle, not even to breathe.

"I'm guessing Bruce and I both have feelings for Tony," Natasha said smoothly. "You too, Steve?"

Steve nodded, his face going so red Tony almost thought he would explode. And okay, Tony had sort of guessed it already, but it was still a little strange. A love spell that had made three Avengers fall in love with him? Wow.

Bruce wiped his glasses nervously. It was a mystery whether he felt relieved that his breakdown had been Amora-caused or not. Tony cleared his throat. He didn't want to push the others, but they sort of had to know, since it clearly affected team dynamics.

Weirdly, it was Clint who spoke next. "I've been thinking about getting a divorce."

Natasha tensed. Everyone else stared at the archer. "A divorce?" Tony parroted. "I didn't even know you were married."

"I try to keep them out of everything. Laura... We have kids, and a SHIELD agent's family is always a target." Clint didn't look at any of them. "Since Amora, I kept thinking that this life... It isn't for them. I'm not a good match for Laura. Nat's the only one I've ever loved."

Natasha looked pained. Tony wished he hadn't saved Amora after all. Then he thought about Loki and he mentally floundered all over again. Fuck.

"The Lady Jane and I have parted ways," Thor said morosely. "I realized that most Midgardians are far too fragile to stand by my side. There is only one who could be my partner, my equal. Doctor Banner."

Double fuck.

"I guess I see where Amora was going with this, although I'm guessing I was supposed to fall in love with someone too."

"It looks that way," Steve tentatively offered.

It suddenly struck Tony that they could have easily missed this altogether if not for the Hulk. When Thor had said "love spell", Tony had really imagined the kind of "in your face" enslavement that Skurge had apparently been the target of.

But this was different. This was chilling, because every induced love had arguments. Secretly, Tony wondered what justifications Cap and Natasha had for loving him. With Bruce, it was pretty simple, since Bruce was his science bro, but Cap and Natasha? Not so much.

Well, he wasn't going to pry. He'd done quite enough of that for the day.

"Okay, we have to figure out a way to dispel it. I've had JARVIS search for Amora's magical signature. No luck for now, but maybe we'll manage to pin her down."

"What do we do in the meantime?" Bruce asked hesitantly. "I mean... We can't really function like this."

"We can be professional about it," Natasha said. "We have to work together. We can't let this get in the way."

"We might have to bench the Hulk, though." Steve shot Bruce a sheepish look. "Sorry, Doctor Banner."

"No, I get it. I'm liable to punch one of you in the face if I think you got to close to Tony."

He was smiling a little as he spoke, and Tony mentally counted it as a win. The situation wasn't great, but Bruce had realized that this whole thing wasn't his responsibility.

There was just one problem now. Amora knew Tony had busted her out. She was liable to use that against Tony. And didn't it suck massive balls that Tony hadn't gotten the chance to add the voice modulator to the stealth armor?

Story of his fucking life. Too much to do, too little time.

"Rest at ease, my friends," Thor grumbled. "It will not come to that. I will speak with the All-Father again. The situation has changed now that we have learned the spell has actually worked. I am certain I will find the answer on Asgard. Amora's treachery will not be left unpunished."

"Whatever works, Point Break."

Thor nodded at him, took one last look at Bruce and then stalked out toward the balcony. He launched himself in the air and, within moments, vanished from sight.

Out of experience, Tony knew it would take a while for Thor to come back. He usually went to the park to summon the Bifrost, since doing so would have been impossible from the Tower. But when it came to royalty there was always a process. It was a mystery if the circumstances would just delay him more or not.

"Okay," Tony said, clapping his hands together. "I'm going back to the lab. You kids play nice, you hear?"

He hastily retreated into the elevator and left the other Avengers to fend for themselves. As JARVIS guided the elevator back down, Tony laughed lightly. "At least now I know why they were acting so strangely. And they can't blame me for being jumpy. But keep an eye out, JARV. Wouldn't want any other Hulk outs."

"Noted, Sir."

"Once this whole thing is over, I'm taking Loki and going to Fiji. Or maybe Alfheim. Alfheim's nice this time of year, right?"

"I couldn't possibly say, Sir. Perhaps you should ask Mr. Silvertongue when he arrives."

"Maybe I will." The elevator door opened, revealing the workshop and Tony's refuge. "In the meantime, let's get busy."

Upon Tony's command, JARVIS brought up the schematics for the stealth suit. Might as well be ready, because at this rate, he'd definitely need the backup plan.

****

Amora was fundamentally a creature of passion. This had always been the case, for as long as she could remember. Even before her interest in seidr had turned toward the exploration of seduction, her tempers and her moods had flared bright and burned fiercely, like the flame giants of Muspelheim.

In that sense, Loki had been her opposite. No, that wasn't exactly right either. If he received an insult, he was more liable to remember it and lash out later, in the worst way possible, through a method that often ended in a great deal of embarrassing incidents for his target. His anger was as cold as Amora's had been hot.

She was fairly certain that, had he figured out the Man of Iron's end game like she had, he would have been furious too.

She didn't realize it immediately. For a few days, she was quite content to revel in the knowledge of the information she had on the armorsmith. She gave Skurge some time to recuperate and refocused her magic, considering her next move carefully. She enjoyed herself tremendously when she realized that she'd been mistaken in her original assumption that the spell hadn't worked. It had—just not on the Man of Iron. The other Avengers just hadn't been as lucky as their armorsmith, and while the end result hadn't been exactly what Amora had had in mind, it was nevertheless chaos worthy of Loki's name.

That was the only thing that tempered her anger when she realized that somehow, through his own brand of seidr, the Man of Iron was watching her.

It was only chance that led her to discovering the device the Man of Iron had attached to her. It was tiny, barely the size of an ant, and he had placed it on her neck, hidden behind the curtain of her hair. It had stubbornly stayed on despite the fact that Amora had changed clothes and bathed several times ever since they'd left the Man of Iron's company. It was Skurge who spotted it, one time when she flipped her hair and he was behind her. And Amora might have been unfamiliar with Midgardian science, but it didn't take long for her to identify the purpose of the device.

She didn't squash it, although she definitely could have. "So, the foolish mortal thinks he can spy on me. We shall see about that."

That same evening, she returned to the Midgardian city where the Avengers made their home. There was a spatial disturbance around the armorsmith's tower that kept her from scrying inside. For all she knew, she could run into the Avengers if she attempted to blindly teleport in. But... She did have one card she could play.

With a thought, Amora teleported herself and Skurge to the parking garage where the Man of Iron had taken her. It was a risk, but one that paid off. No one seemed present—or at least, none of the Avengers. She knew better than to believe the area was not being watched. "Familiar, I wish to speak to your master."

When the familiar replied, he sounded disapproving. "Sir has made his stance clear with regard to your presence."

"Come now, familiar. Surely, given his... position, he understands the benefits."

There was a slight pause, and Amora assumed the familiar was conveying her message to the Man of Iron. Finally, the familiar said, "This way, if you please."

The Man of Iron's bodiless servant led them to another elevator, and straight up. Amora did know there was a chance the armorsmith would try to hand her over to his shield-brothers, but she could always teleport away if he made the attempt, and she knew a dangerous secret about him. For all that he had been watching her, he had still let her go, and that was one thing that couldn't have been in the Avengers' plans.

The elevator led them up to the uppermost floor of the massive structure. Interestingly enough, the Man of Iron was already waiting for them. He was alone, and he wasn't wearing his armor.

"Hey there, Barbie. I'd ask if you wanted to party, but I'm not sure I'd like your idea of enjoyment."

"Mmm." Amora smiled at the armorsmith. "I've never had any complaints."

"Right. I'd be more inclined to believe that if you hadn't cast an evil spell on me and my friends."

"Ah, yes." Amora hummed thoughtfully. "Your friends. The friends you betrayed."

The Man of Iron's jaw tightened, but he didn't try to say it hadn't been betrayal. It was a point in his favor. He knew exactly what he had been doing.

He was wary of her and of Skurge, but he'd released them anyway. Why?

Amora knew of the Man of Iron's reputation. Presumably, he was quite the rake, going through lovers with very little regard to attachments—save for his wench Potts who had grown tired of his ways. Was it truly that simple? Was the hero so easily swayed by her beauty?

Stranger things had happened, she supposed.

Amora stepped forward, heading toward the armorsmith. She had to admit he was handsome. She could see why he'd broken so many hearts. It would be no hardship to bed him.

But that was not why she'd come here.

The Man of Iron walked up to area where various liquors seemed to be stored. "So... Seems like I'm a terrible host. Drink?"

How charming. Taking refuge behind the beverages? Amora shook her head. "Thank you, no."

"Nothing for you either, Ken?"

Skurge didn't reply, and the Man of Iron grimaced. "What is it with Asgardians and refusing drinks?"

"Perhaps it is something else entirely that I want." Amora leaned against the bar. She was not so crass as to shove her breasts into his face, but she could tell he noticed her cleavage.

His eyes flashed and he studiously looked at her face alone. "I don't suppose what you want is to break the spell. I won't lie, it's a bit of an annoyance."

"But why would I do that, Man of Iron? I took so much trouble casting it."

She hoisted herself up onto the bar, and in this new position, she could reach him without stretching out too awkwardly. "You intrigue me, armorsmith. Tell me, what did you expect to gain by having me watched?"

The Man of Iron blinked at her, as if surprised. A few seconds later, he let out a low chuckle. "I should have known better than to think you wouldn't notice. And for the most part, I was hoping to make sure you wouldn't run amok."

"Then what do you expect as your reward for freeing me?"

"I already told you what I would like—for you to break the spell. But you don't seem inclined to do that—so we're at a stalemate here."

There had been so many men who'd asked to touch her, to kiss her, to bed her. Amora was genuinely puzzled. Why did he not ask for the same thing? Even if he did not lack for mortal lovers, having her was an entirely different experience, and he couldn't possibly have missed it.

A surge of irritation coursed through Amora. Enough of this. For all that he was clever, the Man of Iron was arrogant in coming to see her without his armor. He had no defense against her now.

The spell came to her easily, and she brushed her fingers over his cheek, letting it sink into him. The Man of Iron frowned. And then, something inside him lashed out against the enchantment.

The first time it had happened, Amora had been too distracted to identify it, but now, she was definitely not. Her eyes widened as she recognized the familiar feel of Loki's magic.

Anger flared through Amora, hot and bright, consuming all thoughts of seduction. "You... What do you know of him? What did you do to him?"

There were ways to steal a magic user's seidr, evil rituals that tapped into the natural energy of a sorcerer. Amora had not thought the Midgardians could have such methods, but if they did, if they had stolen Loki's magic, it made so much sense that he had perished like he had.

Magic flared at her fingertips, swirling in the air like a whip. "I will tear the skin off your bones for this treachery."

The Man of Iron ducked, avoiding her spell. Her magic shattered the wooden furniture around him. Out of nowhere, the armor appeared, enveloping him in a metal cocoon. Weapons of sorts descended from the ceiling and fire bloomed in the Man of Iron's hand.

"Look, Barbie. I don't know what you're assuming that I did, but whatever it is, you're wrong, and you need to keep your fucking magic in check and your voice down before you get all the Avengers here and destroy everything."

"I care not for your secrets, Man of Iron. You stole Loki's magic. I felt it inside you. Do not attempt to deceive me. It will not work."

Amora shot another spell at the Man of Iron. She missed again, and it crashed through the windows, shattering them into a million pieces.

The familiar attacked. The first volley of energy blasts collided harmlessly against Amora's shield, but then the Man of Iron attacked as well, and it was a little more difficult to contain.

Skurge stepped in, lunging at the Man of Iron. He didn't have his axe, but he was still very strong. The Man of Iron fell back under Skurge's bulk.

Amora would have loved to disembowel the Man of Iron right then and there, but before she could attack again, the other Avengers manifested, having obviously been summoned by the familiar. The green beast made a beeline for the Man of Iron and pulled Skurge off him. He threw Skurge at Amora, interrupting the spell she had been casting. Amora shot to her feet, only to be hit by the Captain's shield.

Amora let out a blast of pure energy that sent them all—save the beast—falling to the floor. "This isn't over, Man of Iron," she snarled. "You will pay for what you did to Loki."

She was not prepared for another confrontation with the Avengers, and she had yet to retrieve the Bloodaxe for Skurge. It was too risky to continue this, and she refused to get herself caught again. Instead, she teleported herself and Skurge away, but this time, she did not go her Midgardian abode, or to Alfheim. She went directly to Nornheim.

Karnilla needed to know about this.


	6. Enter Loki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What you've been waiting for - Loki's POV! There'll be more of him starting this point, and a hefty amount of angst and feels - but that probably doesn't surprise you.  
> As always, thank you to everyone who has read, commented and kudos-ed this story! You guys are awesome.

"Father, I have returned from Midgard. The spell the Enchantress cast was successful. We need your help to break it."

From the throne and still under the All-Father's guise, Loki cursed to himself. He had, naturally, known about Amora's spell. He had felt it the first time Thor had come to Asgard.

He could have undone it then, but he'd sensed it was different from other simpler spells of seduction Amora had cast. And the enchantment on Thor was only a part of the overall spell.

All the Avengers, save Anthony, who had been under Loki's protection, had been enchanted in the most insidious way possible.

Loki had entertained the hope that the Avengers would not notice until he managed to steal another visit to Midgard and break the spell. But things never turned out the way he hoped.

"I see," he told Thor. "Do not fret, Thor. The spell will be broken. I will make sure of it."

The tension left Thor's stance. He stayed on one knee, as he had been before, but he lifted his eyes and looked at Loki. "Thank you, Father. My Midgardian shield-brothers have done nothing to warrant Amora's vengeance."

Loki sighed. "Perhaps not. But... Thor, you must remember the mortals are fleeting."

Thor's lips thinned, and Loki got up, leaving the throne. He didn't press the matter. The Odin Thor knew wouldn't. "Come, my son. We should handle this situation at once. Amora is Asgard's responsibility."

Thor got up and silently followed Loki out of the throne room. They headed directly toward the stables. Sleipnir whinnied in greeting, and not for the first time, Loki was grateful that the steed still remembered and liked him. Then again, Sleipnir was probably the only being in Asgard who was genuinely happy Loki was not dead. He could sense that he wasn't truly Odin, but he still considered Loki his parent.

Loki wished he had the time to pet and spoil Sleipnir properly, but Odin did not do that, and he couldn't afford to break his cover in front of Thor.

Holding onto Gungnir, Loki mounted Sleipnir. "Father, you mean to come yourself?" Thor finally asked, as if that hadn't been obvious from the very beginning. Oaf.

"The matter needs to be dealt with swiftly, Thor, and Asgard has few sorcerers able to break through Amora's spells. The mortals cannot come to Asgard. Thus I will go to them."

Thor looked uncomfortable. "Father, I... Are you certain?"

It was, in fact, highly irregular that Odin would go anywhere himself. But Loki was so tired, and he would have used any excuse to leave Asgard and the throne, if only for a few hours.

The wound the Accursed had left behind was paining him again, and he wanted nothing more than to fall into Anthony's bed and sleep for a week.

Of course, he didn't have that luxury, but merely seeing Anthony, if only for a few hours, would have to suffice. Perhaps this might be the last time Anthony would allow it.

Through the past months , Anthony had  often  been the only one to keep him going. Loki would have never admitted that out loud, of course, not when he was very much aware that he was living on borrowed time. The last thing he should have done was take a lover. The Other had promised him pain beyond reckoning, and there was no better way to hurt someone but by hurting the ones they cared about.

The memory drifted into Loki's mind, as fierce and sharp as a dagger blow between his ribs,  as the spear that had almost claimed his life .  _There will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he cannot find you._ _You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain._

Thor's hold on his arm snapped him out of his trance. "Father?"

Loki realized he'd fallen silent and had not answered Thor's question. "It is nothing, Thor. I am merely... weary. Come. Let us away."

Thor didn't question him. It was almost too easy to slip into the All-Father's role, even if Loki was not at his best. The whole of Asgard knew the All-Father was still in mourning for his queen—and presumably, his son. Loki's name was never mentioned, but the assumption was that the All-Father had carried a dose of sentiment for the treacherous fallen prince.

Loki very much doubted that was the case. If there had ever been any kind of emotion binding them, the All-Father had made his stance more than clear when he'd imprisoned Loki for all eternity.

Either way, it mattered not. Eternity would be short for Loki. Thanos would come, and this would all be over, one way or another.

In the meantime, Loki had to break Amora's spell and speak to his Midgardian. There might still be something he could salvage out of the situation.

The royal guard followed him and Thor as they left the palace. The repaired Bifrost glowed bright and vibrated with power under Sleipnir's hooves. Loki held onto the reins tightly and did not look down.

They left the horses in front of the Observatory. Heimdall was already waiting, Hofund in his strong hands. "To Midgard, Heimdall," Loki ordered.

"Of course, my king."

There was no suspicion in Heimdall's all-seeing eyes, but Loki knew better than to believe he could continue playing this game forever. So far, it had worked well enough. He'd had an inexplicable bout of good fortune in the way Muninn seemed to accept him. Huginn mostly remained at Odin's bedside, watching over the slumbering All-Father. Loki had dedicated himself to strengthening Asgard's defenses, repairing the damage done by the elves, honoring Frigga—as the All-Father would have done.

If Heimdall had seen through it, he was biding his time before he could strike. And strike he would, of that Loki had no doubt.

But in the meantime, Loki would have his revenge—and he would fix this.

The Bifrost opened and Loki walked proudly into the portal. Thor and the guards followed him inside.

They landed safely on Midgard, as Loki had known they would. Fortunately, the Bifrost no longer made Loki nauseous, so he was as steady as he'd ever been. The area was cordoned off, kept away from random wandering mortals since Thor used it too. Anthony's tower loomed in the distance, and Loki wondered how the site of his defeat had at one point become his only refuge.

He banged Gungnir against the ground. Light engulfed them, and the spell left them in front of the Tower, as close as Loki could take them without suspicion and without alarming any of the mortals.

Loki had managed to find a way around the anomaly that protected Stark Tower from Heimdall's sight, but Thor didn't need to know that.

Mortals gaped at them and stopped to take pictures as Loki led the way to the Tower. By necessity, they had to walk, which Thor rarely did in the mortal realm. These Midgardians were so numerous, cramping the roads, crowding everything.

They also acknowledged the power Loki exuded, were fascinated by it. They gave Loki and the rest of the Asgardian delegation room to move and simply stared in silence. As long as Loki didn't tell them to kneel, Asgard would be welcome here.

Contrary creatures, these mortals.

Fortunately, the tower was not far. Loki entered the structure, only to find the guards inside extremely agitated.

Ah, yes. Amora's attack. Loki's heart clenched as he remembered watching the incident from the throne. He'd been so close to teleporting to Anthony's side, to protect him from Amora's fury.

Sentiment. He couldn't risk his position, couldn't just disappear from Asgard without Heimdall noticing. But Norns help him, how he'd wanted to.

Loki tightened his hold on Gungnir. Enough of this maudlin, foolish moping. It wasn't suitable for a king, even one occupying a stolen throne. He would definitely have to speak to Amora and make it clear that such actions were unacceptable in the future, but until then, he couldn't allow himself to linger on his dread.

"My friends, what has occurred?" Thor asked.

"There was an attack yesterday evening, Prince Thor," one of the guards reported. "It was shortly after your departure. Fortunately no one was hurt."

Thunder echoed in the distance. "Amora."

The guard didn't have any information on the identity of the attacker, so Thor led them into the elevators. Loki gestured for the guards to wait at the ground level. They were far too numerous to fit into the elevator, and Loki didn't want their looming presence to intervene in the proceedings anyway.

"Greetings, Your Majesty, Prince Thor," JARVIS said. "Welcome to Earth, King Odin."

"Thank you. And you must be the Man of Iron's bodiless servant, yes?"

"Indeed, Your Majesty, I am JARVIS," JARVIS replied. "With your permission, I could take you to Sir now."

"Please do, Sir JARVIS," Thor boomed.

JARVIS was well aware of his identity, of course. The construct had not forgiven Loki for tossing his creator out the window and forcing him into a situation that had eventually led to him delivering the missile into the void. Loki could understand that, since he had not forgiven himself for it either.

Still, he and the construct had reached a truce since Loki had given Anthony a Golden Apple, and he'd been a tremendous aid ever since Loki had started his liaison with Anthony. So far, his attitude didn't seem to have changed after Amora's attack, but Loki couldn't always read him properly.

Loki's question would be answered when he finally met Anthony.

JARVIS left them at the Avengers' common floor, instead of the penthouse. Anthony greeted them with his regular exuberance. "Welcome back, Thor. Your Majesty, _mi casa es su casa_ and all that. I'm doing a bit of remodeling in the penthouse, so you'll have to excuse us for the mess."

Loki frowned, although inside, he was smiling. As of late, he found his Midgardian's tendency to ramble quite adorable. Sentiment again, but one he couldn't be blamed for.

"Asgard welcomes your hospitality, Man of Iron," he said. "I am told there was an attack."

Anthony grimaced. "Amora and her boyfriend. She's pretty angry at me for some reason."

"She is most dangerous, Man of Iron. You must be vigilant."

"Yeah, I can see that. But where are my manners? Come on in. Can I get you something? Or would you prefer to rest after your trip? There are guest rooms on Thor's floor."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. I cannot be away from Asgard long, and I must see Queen Karnilla at once."

That much was true, and it was almost a relief that he could go to Nornheim without needing an elaborate explanation. Or it would have been, if this respite hadn't possible come at the expense of his relationship with Anthony.

A brief spark of regret and yearning flashed through Anthony's eyes. Hope rekindled in Loki's chest, a tiny fragile thing he didn't dare to dwell on.

Before either of them could say anything else, the rest of the Avengers made their appearance. The Widow looked even more blank-faced than usual. The archer was painstakingly polite—undoubtedly this entire episode brought back unpleasant memories. The beast looked tired. The man out of time shot Loki a welcoming smile, studiously not looking at Anthony.

Amora had always been good at sowing dissent.

Everyone was notably on their best behavior. Loki's name wasn't mentioned even once. If they blamed Odin for this entire episode, they didn't say anything about it.

Loki gestured for everyone—save Anthony—to gather in a circle. "The spell is quite complex. You must keep your eyes closed and remain still and silent no matter what."

"Yes, Father," Thor replied, ever the dutiful son.

The man out of time nodded in acquiescence. "Of course, Your Majesty."

The widow spoke for both herself and the archer."We understand."

"Where do you want me?" Anthony asked, a useful question that at the same time covered for the beast's silence.

Loki briefly looked away from the Avengers and let his eyes flash green. He wanted Anthony in bed, riding him, or alternatively sliding into him, stretching him, making him burn. He wasn't picky as long as he got to touch Anthony.

But now was not the time to say that, especially not when he was wearing Odin's guise. That was just disturbing. "Keep your distance. Against that wall is fine. You must be quiet as well."

Anthony complied. Loki lifted Gungnir and focused his seidr on the spear.

It was a complicated process. His magic was different from Odin's, and hiding its signature from Thor was exhausting. Using Gungnir as a receptacle had worked so far, although technically speaking, Loki did not need a weapon to cast spells. While here, the anomaly caused by the Tesseract and the reactor that fed Anthony's building helped a lot.

The Avengers kept their eyes closed as they'd been bid and didn't see the slight strands of green emanating from Loki's hands. Through the corner of his eye, Loki caught sight of Anthony mouthing some commands at JARVIS.

The lights flashed briefly. The threads of green were cloaked by JARVIS's filters.

It was only an illusion, created through Midgardian science instead of through magic. It also worked like a charm, and Loki was granted the reprieve he needed to explore Amora's spell.

Despite himself, he found the enchantment beautiful, beautiful and dangerous, much like its caster. It wasn't exactly what it should have been—the collision with Loki's wards had changed it—but it had not shattered. Instead, it had adapted, included Anthony within it even if it hadn't been able to affect him directly.

Amora's original plans had been interesting indeed. Loki read them in each carefully woven strand of the spell. She must have spent quite some time pouring over the runes necessary for it, as it couldn't have been easy to get such an elaborating working right. Anthony had been meant to fall in love with the Captain, not the other way around. The Captain was supposed to love the Widow, whose affections were meant to go toward Thor. Thor's attraction toward the beast had worked as planned, as did Banner's love for Anthony and the archer's love for the Widow.

It was likely that the Avengers would have fallen apart within weeks of the working—if Anthony hadn't remained clear-headed and capable of spotting the enchantment.

Beautiful. Worthy of a revenge in Loki's name. Truly, Loki would have been proud of it had it not cost him Anthony, and had he still not been angered by the attack on his Midgardian lover. Also, as of late, he found that he had an aversion toward mind control of any type, and this particular enchantment was far too similar to what he himself had experienced for his comfort.

With utmost attention, he reached into the hearts of the Avengers and removed the hooks of Amora's spell. He could not say he cared overmuch about the Avengers, but they were needed, and some of them—especially the beast—were important for Anthony.

It took a while—this wasn't the type of spell he could cancel with a flick of his fingers—but at last he was done. Once he finished, he leaned heavily against Gungnir. For a brief moment, he pressed a hand to his chest, but he quickly stopped himself and straightened his back when he realized he couldn't afford the moment of weakness.

"It is done," he said.

The Avengers opened their eyes. Anthony stepped forward. "So... You still want to bone me, Cap?"

It was a crass question, but Loki didn't miss the fact that Anthony's new position virtually masked Loki's silhouette. Anthony's masks rivaled Loki's own, layers upon layers of obfuscation. Thus far, even the Widow had been unable to discern Anthony's biggest secret—Loki himself.

He wondered what would happen when it all came out. It would, eventually. The bigger the lie, the more likely it was to be revealed sooner or later. They had plans in place. But would it be enough?

Loki pushed back the dread that came with that thought and focused on the ongoing conversation. The Captain did not, in fact, want to bone Anthony any longer—or at least, not more than he usually did. The beast was already giving the Widow embarrassed looks, whereas the archer seemed to be vibrating out of his skin. Doubtlessly, he wanted to flee to contact his family.

It was Thor who addressed the matter, as was his way. "Father, I must... I must speak with Jane."

Loki gave Thor a disapproving look, but in the end, nodded. "Go. I must depart for Nornheim as well."

"You're welcome to stay, Your Majesty," Anthony said. "After you helped us out and everything—"

"No thanks are required," Loki cut Anthony off. "Amora is Asgard's responsibility."

Anthony nodded and didn't press matters. "Allow me to lead you out."

Sadly, the rest of the Avengers followed Anthony's example, which meant Loki couldn't speak with Anthony at all. Loki resigned himself to having to wait for a later meeting and hope that, by then, Anthony would still want to speak with him.

The guards fell into position behind Loki as Loki stepped out of the elevator. The Avengers followed the Asgardian party out of the Tower and made sure the mortals didn't impede Loki's progress. Loki met Anthony's gaze one more time, wished he did not have to hide behind Odin's facade, and then proceeded to berate himself for the desire. "Farewell, Midgardians."

He banged Gungnir against the concrete, transporting himself and the soldiers to the park. Once at the Bifrost site, he called to Heimdall. "Heimdall, open the Bifrost!"

The rush of energy fell upon him mere moments later. Loki let himself fall into it and very carefully did not focus on the fact that he wished he could have stayed behind.

He did not stop to even take a breather, although he didn't bother trying to disguise his fatigue either. The All-Father was old, grieving. Amora's magic was potent. He would be feeling the strain.

In the long run, this fatigue could come in handy. But for the moment, he still had things he needed to do. "Nornheim, Heimdall."

A shadow crossed Heimdall's eyes, but he nodded. "Of course."

The Bifrost dropped Loki and his royal guard just outside Nornkeep. Not for the first time, Loki noted the massive structure was not all that different from the Asgardian royal palace. But then, Nornheim was in theory part of Asgard, even if it was an independent country, and Karnilla herself was Asgardian. The similarities were not surprising.

Loki had not bothered to take Sleipnir—which in hindsight had been a mistake. Nevertheless, the Bifrost site wasn't far from the gates of Nornkeep. He walked on proudly, never once faltering, his posture perfect—just like the All-Father's had been before he'd succumbed to madness and grief.

Karnilla's demon guardians stopped them at the gates. "Only Odin All-Father may pass," one of the demons hissed.

The Einherjar reached for their blades, but Loki waved them off. Truly, did they not realize that they could not draw their swords in the land of another monarch? Their only purpose there was protocol—for the All-Father could hardly go to a different land without his royal guard.

"I will abide to Queen Karnilla's conditions. Wait here."

The soldiers were clearly not happy about this, but no one dared to question the All-Father. The gates of Nornkeep opened and Loki stepped through.

Magic enveloped him in a familiar welcoming embrace. Loki allowed himself a small smile. If nothing else, he did have an ally here. He just hoped that, by the end of this day, he'd have an ally—and a lover—on Midgard too.


	7. Sentiment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't lie. This chapter should actually be called Loki Feels :P But I do love it when Loki says "sentiment" - it always gives me the urge to hug him.   
> As always, thank you to everyone who kudos-ed, read and commented on this story. I appreciate each and every one of you. Next update will probably be A Friend for A Week.

"But my queen, you must do something. The treatment Loki must have suffered... What the Midgardian must have done... It is an outrage."

Amora faced the Queen of the Norns, clenching and unclenching her fists. She didn't remember ever feeling this furious. She had been angry many times before, yes, but never like this—never quite like this.

Not even when she had attempted to bewitch Thor had Odin torn her magic from her. It was monstrous. It would have ripped Loki's mind and soul apart.

The news of Loki's death had grieved Amora deeply. This, though... This made her want to burn the whole of Midgard to the ground.

Karnilla left her throne and cupped her cheeks. The Norn Queen was not a gentle woman. She was a powerful sorceress and a good teacher, but she was not one to mince words or offer polite platitudes.

Still, in that moment, she was an oasis of comfort for Amora's agitated mind.

"Child, you must calm yourself," she said. "If you desire to avenge Loki, it is not mindless anger that is needed."

"I know that. I am trying. I was just... I was not ready."

It felt wrong to make that admission, but it wasn't like Karnilla didn't know already. Amora had already destroyed three statues, burned five tapestries and accidentally enchanted four demons since she'd arrived at Nornkeep. She hadn't been so out of control since her youth.

It was embarrassing. It was foolish. It was weak. If she had any pride left, she should gathered the tattered remnants of her dignity and attacked again instead of coming here and begging for Karnilla's attention.

But every time she thought that, she remembered the moment she'd touched the Man of Iron and felt the stolen magic, and she knew, she just knew, that if she left now, she would do something stupid that would get her and Skurge killed.

Amora took a deep breath and straightened her back. Enough of this. She was the Enchantress. She would not be brought down to her knees by a puny mortal.

"Did you know about this, my queen?" she asked, proud when her voice came out steady.

"I did, although not in the way you would assume."

Amora was left dumbstruck. It had been a rhetorical question more than anything else. She hadn't actually expected Karnilla to have known—and done nothing.

She had no idea what to say or do. Her first instinct was to teleport away, find Skurge and leave Nornheim. But she couldn't burn her bridges like that. Her list of allies was thin, and for what it was worth, Karnilla had received her in Nornkeep, no questions asked.

Before Amora could make a decision, the throne room doors opened. Amora turned, only to see the All-Father walk in.

He looked old and tired. The queen's death had obviously taken a toll on him. But it was still him, still Odin, and Amora knew better than to underestimate him.

She also knew she needed to tread lightly. Karnilla had been Asgard's ally in the past. She had that ridiculous crush on Thor's cousin Baldur, and in the past, Amora had seen him visit Nornkeep. But that didn't mean Karnilla would let the All-Father walk all over her, or that Amora could afford to breach her authority by attacking.

"All-Father," Karnilla said, "you look weary."

The doors closed behind Odin. He arched a brow. "Do I? I suppose you would now, Queen Karnilla."

"Perhaps. I take it you wished to speak to the Enchantress."

"Indeed." The All-Father turned to look at Amora. "She and I have a conversation pending."

"Very well. I will leave you two to your discussion."

And just like that, Karnilla disappeared. Well then. Again, Amora had not expected that, but she had never shied away from the unexpected.

"All-Father," she purred. "You flatter me with your attention."

"I don't think flattery is the best way to describe it, Enchantress." He set Gungnir aside, leaning it against the wall. "Your actions on Midgard were most unwise."

"I do not doubt that you would see them so. You only find wisdom in your own deeds. Tell me, All-Father, where did that wisdom lead you?"

The barb regarding Frigga was on her lips, but she didn't get to utter it. "Don't," Odin said brusquely. "Just... don't, Amora. I don't have the time, or the patience to argue with you."

As he spoke, his image blurred—and suddenly, it was not Odin standing there any longer. It was Loki.

Amora almost fell over. She knew Odin was cruel and a trickster in his own right, but he had not expected him to fight back this way.

Magic bloomed under her fingertips. "Cease this," she snarled. "You do not deserve to wear his guise."

She shot a bolt of seidr at him, but he dodged with striking agility. In seconds, he was by her side. He grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. "Amora, stop. It is me."

Amora suddenly felt weak in the knees. It was him. Now that he was touching her, now that he was so close, Amora couldn't possibly miss it. He had hidden his magical signature well, but now, it was right there in her face—and it was him, oh, Norns, it was Loki.

He did look tired and strained, but he was alive and he was there and Amora could touch him and smell him and breathe in the caress of his seidr. His hands were cold, but Amora could have wept at the feel of them.

As the thought crossed her mind, anger surged through her. She had mourned him and grieved for him, and he'd been perfectly fine, ruling Asgard. She slapped him—hard. "I thought you were dead! How could you? How could you do this?"

Loki let her scream at him, watching her in pensive silence. Amora hated him for that, because she wanted him to rage back, to say something, anything, to use that scathing tongue she knew so well. But he didn't and Amora was so angry and so lost.

She kissed him.

Amora had had many lovers. Many of them had been grateful for her favor and had fallen under the spell of her beauty. With many of them, Amora enjoyed engineering the seduction.

She didn't bother engineering anything now. This kiss wasn't about seduction. It wasn't even about passion. It was simply about feeling him, making sure he truly was alive.

He kissed her back, and his long-fingered hand was gentle in her hair. Warmth bloomed inside her core. Her own hand snaked down his chest, zeroing in on his breeches.

He broke the kiss before she could reach her target. "You are as beautiful as ever, Amora, but alas, I cannot take you up on your offer. I am involved with someone else."

And that was when Amora understood. All the pieces slid into place. And she felt so stupid, because who except Loki could have blocked a spell like she had cast? The mortal's science was powerful, but the seidr she'd poured into the spell had been meant to sneak past it, past the armor of metal and wires.

Certainly, the mortal could have stolen Loki's magic, but he couldn't have put up coherent shields like that. Only an experienced magic user could do such a thing, and actually succeed in keeping Amora out.

And hadn't Amora herself admitted the Man of Iron was intriguing? Handsome and intelligent—a boon to his people. Granted, she had deemed him beneath her attention because of his reputation, but she could now see that she'd been wrong to assume.

The Man of Iron was a liar. He was Loki's lover, and he had freed Amora for Loki's sake, so that Loki, who had taken Odin's guise, would not be forced into decapitating her. He had betrayed his friends—for Loki.

"Ah," Loki said. "You understand now. So you must see why I am quite cross with you."

"Cross?" Amora trailed her fingers over Loki's face. "How so?"

Loki caught hold of her wrist. His grip wasn't tight, just stern and he kissed her knuckles before pulling away.

"Well, first and foremost, may I remind you that you attempted to kill Anthony on at least one occasion?" His voice went cold and dark, and he was obviously angry. "Do not do so again, Amora. I understood your reasoning, and I can almost appreciate it, but I will not let it slide again."

Amora nodded and opened her mouth to reassure him, but he was not done. "Second, Anthony was not aware of the intricacies of love spells before your admittedly ingenious enchantment against the Avengers. It is only a matter of time until it occurs to him that our relationship might have been based on a similar enchantment."

Loki's words remained calm, but there was something in his eyes that made Amora's heart skip a beat. "You love him. The armorsmith."

Loki's lips twisted in a bitter smile. "Love is not my prerogative, Enchantress. Indeed, sentiment has never served me well." In the shadows in his gaze, Amora saw their shared past, and the memories her touch had resurrected. She suppressed a flinch, and he looked away first. "Perhaps it is for the best. This is hardly the time for such trivial matters."

"Tell me, Loki. Tell me what has happened. Asgard says that you are a traitor, but I do not believe it. I cannot. You have ever been loyal to Thor, to Asgard, to the House of Odin. And then Midgard... And now this, the All-Father's guise. You are the Prince of Mischief. What use have you for a throne?"

"What use indeed." Loki scanned her face with his piercing green eyes, the same ones she had thought she'd never see again. "Enchantress, I would bid you to listen to my tale. Once you hear its end, you decide what you wish to do. But vow to me now, vow that no matter what you choose, you will not reveal the truth about my survival and my taking the throne in Odin's stead. Nor will you reveal Anthony's involvement with me or the fact that he assisted you in your escape. Swear it to me, on your magic."

As a rule, Amora would have never agreed to make an oath on her magic. But she owed Loki that much. She had abandoned him in Asgard, abandoned him for Thor. Not to mention that she had apparently attacked the Man of Iron for a wrongful assumption, and might have unknowingly sabotaged his relationship with the mortal.

She made the oath.

Loki started to speak.

"When it all started... It was just before Thor's coronation. I wasn't happy with it. I felt that he wasn't ready. He was just as reckless and foolhardy as you remember him to be from our younger years, and he would have plunged Asgard into war within days of the All-Father falling into the Odinsleep."

He was not wrong. Thor had been arrogant even prior to Amora's exile. When she'd seen him on Midgard, he had seemed changed, but grief could do that to a man.

"I hatched a plan. It was supposed to be simple, just a little trick to show the All-Father Thor was not ready. I lured some Frost Giants into the Weapons' Vault with the promise of them getting the Casket of Ancient Winters back."

That was treason, but Loki would not have done it if he hadn't been certain there was no danger of the Frost Giants actually getting away with the artifact.

"Naturally, the Destroyer handled them easily enough, although two guards were felled in the attempt." Loki pressed his lips together. "They were not meant to be within the Vault. I didn't consider them."

He waved a hand dismissively. "At any rate, Thor naturally wanted to march into Jotunheim, start a war with Laufey, break the truce. The All-Father was angered. The coronation was stopped. I thought I had won."

"And then you went to Jotunheim," Amora whispered.

She'd heard something about that while on Asgard, that Thor had been exiled after an ill-fated jaunt on the frozen realm.

Loki nodded. "We were never meant to reach the accursed place. Thor was so stubborn. He craved bloodshed, craved war. I could not let him go alone. I feared for his life."

Of course he had. Loki had ever watched his brother's back, even when Thor and his cronies had been unappreciative—even against Amora herself.

"Thor spoke to Laufey. Naturally, the conversation turned into a battle soon enough. In the skirmish, one of the Frost Giants touched me. My skin turned blue."

Amora gaped at Loki. "What?"

"Yes, that was my reaction as well." Loki laughed bitterly. "I believed I was cursed. As it turned out, that was true—only I've always been cursed, from birth. I am not in fact, Odin's son, or Thor's brother. I am Laufey's son. Laufeyson. A Jotun runt cast out to die on a frozen rock, a relic Odin took in and kept by because he deemed it useful and threw away once that was no longer the case."

Amora's breath caught. Jotun? No, it was not possible. Loki, with all his intelligence and magic, would have surely realized it.

But he clearly hadn't, and he was clearly telling the truth, because his eyes were wide and fierce, almost feral when he looked at her again. "Are you horrified now, Enchantress, to know that you lay with such a creature?"

At that, Amora finally found her voice. "Do not speak of yourself thus," she shouted back. "You are not a creature. You are Loki. I do not care about anything else. I have regretted many things as of late, but never will I regret our friendship, or what we had."

Loki sneered. "What is this, Enchantress? Sentiment? Come now. You and I both know better. You, like all the others, always sensed that there was something wrong me, and you turned away and picked my golden brother in my stead. Do not try to claim allegiance to something that is long dead and buried."

Amora bit her lip so hard it bled. He was right, of course he was, but not because she had ever deemed him lacking. She did not say sorry. Words were cheap. "I made made mistakes, Loki. I was blinded by the power the throne could provide. But it was never because I did not care for you." Maybe it was sentiment, and maybe Loki would tear into her for it. He could be vicious when angered, and he was definitely angry now. But by the Norns, Amora refused to back down.

She expected another vicious retort, another reminder of just how badly she had failed him. Instead, he took a step back, never once looking away from her face. "I believe you will change your mind fairly quickly."

The transformation was not instantaneous. Loki was a natural shape-shifter, so such things came easy to him, but there was always some clumsiness the first time he attempted a new form. This was fairly new to him. Undoubtedly, he did not use his Jotun shape overmuch.

The blue poured over him like a coat of paint, until it swallowed every inch of pale skin, the skin Amora was familiar with. His eyes turned crimson red, and tattoo-like lines swirled over his cheeks, disappearing into his clothes.

"You see now? This is what I am. A monster."

Amora crossed the distance between them and pressed their bodies together. Loki went rigid. "Do not. I will burn you."

"You won't." Amora breathed the words against his lips. "You would never hurt me, not really. And you are not a monster."

To prove her point, Amora brushed her mouth over his again. His breath was frozen and her lips tingled with it. Her nipples tightened under her dress, and she would have wanted nothing more than to have him touch her properly. And he might have been Jotnar, but his body didn't burn her, just like Amora had known it wouldn't.

But there was a time and place for everything. "Do not ever belittle yourself like that again," she said, pulling away. "You are Loki. When have you ever cared about little things like skin?"

She knew it wasn't just about that. The Jotnar were Asgard's ancient enemies and were seen as monsters. Part of the reason why Amora had been drawn to Skurge was because he was half-Jotnar and she had wanted to spit in Asgard's face.

Loki looked a little shaky, and just the fact that she could tell spoke volumes of his state of mind. "Amora..."

"Do you know, Loki, what I have learned in all my centuries of existence? Men are the same the nine realms over. If you let them, they will use you and trick you and then throw you away and laugh. It matters not if the Asgardian. Midgardian, Vanir or Ljosalfar. There is little kindness to be found for those who are weaker, and for ones such as I. But, Loki... You were never like that. I care not for the tales. I care not for your Jotnar blood."

"Then you are a fool. I have more blood on my hands than I could wash in a million lifetimes."

Amora didn't reply to that. After all, he had not finished his story, and she had a feeling it only grew worse from there.

She was right.

Loki turned back into his regular form before he resumed his tale. "When I learned the truth, I wanted so desperately to prove that I was not a monster, that I was worthy of the Odinson name, of Asgard. I thought... If only I could wipe that past away—then no one would know of my shame. Mother put Gungnir in my hands." A shadow of grief fleeted through his eyes. "I... Some of the memories are vague now. I... It seemed to make sense at the time, but before I knew it, I was sending the Destroyer after Thor on Midgard and then aiming the Bifrost to destroy an entire realm."

Oh, Loki. Clearly his mind had been shaken by the realization of his Jotnar legacy. For powerful mages, a sense of stability was of utmost importance. The practice of seidr was all about concentration, focus, discipline and effort—and it didn't come easy. Amora herself had practically torn apart Karnilla's throne room in her fury, something she would have never done under normal circumstances. And Loki must have been so lost, so angry, so alone...

If only Amora had been there... But it was too late now. Far too late.

There was nothing she could say that could make it better, so she waved a hand and summoned some fluffy pillows. She sat down and pulled Loki along. It turned out to be a good idea, because he still had far more horrors to reveal.

"Thor returned, as ever his heroic self. He used Mjolnir to destroy the Bifrost. The Observatory exploded. The All-Father woke up from the Odinsleep in time to catch Thor. I... fell."

Amora didn't miss the pause, but she knew better than to ask about it. Loki suddenly looked even paler than before, almost translucent. She would have never dared to call him frail, but in that moment, she felt that if she touched him, he would shatter.

"I was sucked into the wormhole caused by the Bifrost. I fell... for so long... I just wanted for it to stop. But when something finally caught me..." He let out a low breath and shook himself as if pushing back a memory. "It was the Mad Titan."

"No..."

They had all heard tales of Thanos, the Mad Titan, the creature that had once led to the near-destruction of the universe, the one who courted death. To think that Loki had come to be in his grasp... It was too much to comprehend.

"He knew who I was. He wanted access to the Weapons Vault. I refused. Even as mad and lost as I might have been, I realized that with all the artifacts the All-Father is hiding there, Thanos could bring down the Tree itself. Naturally, my refusal did not go about well. I will not bore you with the details, but after he finished having his fun, he used the Mind Gem on me.

"In truth, it was fortunate that he did not do so from the very beginning, because by the time I was completely convinced of the righteousness of his cause, I was too weak to do what he had asked of me. I could not return to Asgard from the void, not through teleportation. But I remembered the Tesseract, the stone the All-Father had hidden on Earth. The mortals had been toying with it. I'd felt the reverberations from Asgard. Thus, we agreed that I would use the Tesseract remotely to transport myself to Midgard, and then open a portal there. A deal was struck. He promised me Midgard in exchange for the Tesseract, promised me that I would be king." Loki snorted. "As if that was ever going to happen. He would burn that world to the ground. All those souls would make a fine offering to his lady.

"At any rate, he gave me the scepter with the Mind Stone. It was a weapon, but it also served as a tether between my mind and that of the Chitauri leader, the Other. I was virtually their attack dog. But once I was away from them, I grew somewhat more... aware of what was happening. Not... fully, but enough to know that this plan could not be allowed to succeed. I did what I could to sabotage it.

"I believe you know the rest. I lost and was brought back to Asgard. I hoped that the All-Father would hear me out. He did not. He either did not care or did not believe me. He sentenced me to an eternity in prison. Doubtlessly, I would still be there if not for Malekith's attack and Mother's death."

Finally, Amora reached for him and took his hand. She could not display pity toward him, but she could offer her condolences. "I'm so sorry, Loki. Your mother was a good woman. Doubtlessly, she will rest well in the halls of her ancestors."

"Thank you, Amora."

Loki leaned against her ever so slightly and did not try to pull away. Amora looked at their entwined fingers. She wondered why Loki did not hate her for what she had done, for abandoning him like she had.

There were still some details she was fuzzy on, but some guesses she could make on her own. Loki's injury on the Dark World had been genuine and bad enough that Thor had believed him dead. "Karnilla helped you, didn't she?"

Loki nodded. "She came to me when I lay dying on Svartalfheim. I do not remember it. One moment, I was saying my farewells to Thor, and the next, I woke up here, in Nornkeep. She knew what had happened, and she knew that Thanos would eventually make his way to Midgard. Odin is old, and Thor still foolish. I am apparently needed." Loki's lips twitched in a humorless smile. "She healed me and returned me to the Dark World, just in time for the guards to come for my body. I did not expect much from my return to Asgard, but as it turned out, the All-Father went into the Odinsleep shortly after that, and I was left to guard the throne."

Loki sighed. "I am tired, Amora. I am the Prince of Lies, but even I can only hold onto a mask for so long. Heimdall is ever watchful, and I cannot use my regular cloaking spells. I must be on my guard every single moment of every day. If not for Anthony..."

"Ah... The anomaly around his Tower."

"Yes. It blocks Heimdall's sight. I needed an ally on Midgard, and I thought of him. The Tower being a blindspot for Heimdall was what finally made me act."

There was obviously more to it than that, because Loki wouldn't take such a risk for his own comfort. Still, she did not pry, because Loki's relationship with his armorsmith was obviously a sore point.

That was when Amora made a decision. It was a ridiculous decision, and a few hundred years ago, she would have laughed herself into an early grave over it, but these were extreme circumstances.

"You are going to see him today, yes? The Man of Iron?"

Loki nodded, narrowing his eyes at her. Despite everything he'd been through, he was as sharp as ever. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Take me with you."


	8. Shiny Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Update. We're entering MFM territory here, finally into my craziness. On this note, thanks to everyone who kudosed and commented or even just read this story. The feedback is much appreciated.  
> Onwards!

Tony sometimes wondered what it said about him that he was in a sort-of-relationship with a guy who spent most of his time in another guy's body. He wondered what it meant that he was grateful even for the brief visit when he hadn't actually gotten to see Loki properly, let alone touch him.

Maybe it just meant that he was realistic, because the circumstances being what they were, he and Loki had been pretty good at keeping this whole mess a secret.

So, realistically speaking, he didn't actually think Loki would drop by again anytime soon. He was wrong.

That evening, Tony was in the workshop, tinkering with his repulsors—because seriously, even with magic, Barbie shouldn't have been able to cut his power like that—when JARVIS said, "Sir, Mr. Silvertongue has arrived in the penthouse. Lady Amora is with him."

"You're fucking with me, Jay."

But Tony knew JARVIS wasn't fucking with him. JARVIS would never joke around with something like that. He quickly set aside everything that was liable to explode and had JARVIS save of his progress.

"Wonder if this means Barbie is less liable to want to disembowel me this time around."

"Indeed, Lady Amora seems less infuriated," JARVIS replied. "She has expressed her desire to accept your offer for a drink."

"Well, then. Can't exactly deny a lady, now can I?"

Tony kind of wished he'd had some sort of warning—he was covered in oil and grease and hadn't really been expecting Loki—but oh well. It was beside the point. It wasn't like Loki had ever wrinkled his nose at his science stink. And Barbie could just deal.

Tony took the elevator up to the penthouse floor. The damage Amora had done had been mostly cosmetic, with the bar taking the bulk of it. He'd replaced it since the attack, and he'd done the same with the windows. It was a good thing, because he wanted the privacy of his floor for this particular conversation.

Instantly, Tony's gaze zeroed in on Loki. The first think he noticed was Loki's visible pallor. He wasn't hunched or anything like that—Loki's posture was almost always impeccable, outside Hulk smashings—but he was clearly tired. Even so, both he and Amora were standing.

It was a manners thing, Tony suspected. There were all sorts of nuances of rules of hospitality that came with Asgardian education. This particular tidbit wasn't that hard. Loki was a regular in Tony's penthouse, but Amora—not so much. She couldn't just sit down without the host's permission. Indeed, if not for the little fact that they were basically supervillains who were forced to teleport, they wouldn't even have popped in without a warning. And Loki could hardly sit down if Amora was standing so... There they were.

Tony didn't bother with that nonsense. "Hey, babe. You look like shit. Sit the fuck down before you fall over. You too, Barbie."

Loki shot him a small smile. "Well, Anthony, if nothing else, I can always count on you to be blunt."

He sat down on the couch, and Amora took a seat on an armchair nearby. "So, everything clarified? Am I less liable to be disemboweled by an angry sorceress now?"

"Indeed, Man of Iron," Amora replied. "Loki has explained the situation. It was a misunderstanding on my part, and for this, I apologize."

Tony arched a brow. He had a feeling that, like Loki, Amora didn't apologize often. "It's fine, Barbie. People try to kill me all the time. I'm sort of used to that."

He caught Loki's glare and remembered Loki didn't like it when he talked about his life so dismissively. Oops.

"Anyway, I'm honestly more displeased with the love spell thing. That one was a dick move."

"Yes, I can understand that now," Amora said, her voice strikingly sedate. "I can assure you the incident will not repeat itself."

She knew about Thanos and the mind control thing. Well, that was good, Tony supposed. A new ally was always useful, and Amora was powerful.

Tony still wasn't thrilled with the spell she'd cast on the Avengers—they were still awkward around one another, even after it was gone—but he could accept many things just because he wanted to tear Thanos to little pieces.

"If it helps," Amora added, "that kind of enchantment is something of great magnitude. I would not do it lightly. I was quite... incensed at the news of Loki's supposed demise."

"I can understand that."

Tony made a beeline for the bar and poured some drinks. There were few things on Earth that could actually get an Asgardian tipsy, but Loki liked absinthe and he enjoyedliquors—the kind that were so sweet you didn't realize you were drunk until the world was spinning.

He didn't know Amora's tastes, though, but he supposed he could ask. Asking was always better than guessing, and Amora had seemed familiar with cars and elevators so maybe she'd been around Earth for a while.

"So... What can I get you?"

"I find that I'm fond of rum," Amora replied. "Alternatively, I appreciate martinis. Very dry."

Idly, Tony wondered if it was scary or amusing that Amora and Pepper had similar tastes in drinks. "You must try the absinthe, Amora," Loki said. "You'd love it."

"Very well then," Amora said, waving a hand imperiously. "Absinthe."

It was interesting to see the dynamic between her and Loki. They were obviously close friends, comfortable with one another. Loki was rarely comfortable with anything these days, so Tony mentally thanked God—or the Norns, or whoever was out there watching—that he'd made the right choice in busting her out.

He gave both Loki and Amora some absinthe and took a whiskey for himself. He didn't drink it, though. He left it on the table. Instead, he leaned against the couch, behind Loki and reached down to massage Loki's neck.

It had taken a while for Loki to be comfortable with the gesture. Tony had sort of stumbled into it, because Loki had seemed so tense one time and he'd just wanted to fix that. Loki had jumped away like Tony had attacked him. Later Loki had confessed that his neck often ached when he used a lot of magic, and Thor had taken to gripping it as a gesture of comfort.

Tony had decided to keep his hands to himself, but a few days later, Loki had suddenly said "put your hands on my neck", and so here they were.

He worked his fingers over the knots and was gratified to feel some of the tension drain of Loki. "So... I take it you guys kissed and made up," he commented idly.

It was only because he was touching Loki that he felt the minute twitch in Loki's muscles. Amora didn't react one way or another, but Tony had already caught onto it. "I didn't mean that literally by the way," he belatedly added.

"Do not fret, Man of Iron. Loki has made it clear that he is loyal to you. I was merely... enthusiastic in our reunion."

Tony had a flash of Amora kissing Loki, Loki's fingers stabbing into her hair, her breasts pressed against his chest. And yeah, Tony was jealous—how could he not be?—but he also secretly thought they would have made quite a picture, which only made him even more jealous. Ugh.

Right. He wasn't going to think about it too much. His relationship with Loki gave him a headache on a regular basis. He was definitely not going to dissect it to figure out whether he had a problem with the fact that Loki had made out with his ex or something.

"Okay," he said simply. "How long can you stay, Lo?"

Loki turned to look at him. "I can stay tonight. I'm supposedly in Nornheim. You don't care about Amora?"

In many ways, Loki was like Natasha. Every word mattered. In this case, he had said "care", not "mind".

They had never said they would be exclusive to one another, but Tony had sort of fallen into it. He wasn't sure if Loki was the same or not, but given what Amora had said, he'd hazard a guess that it was true.

Besides, it wasn't like Loki had the time to go pick up guys or girls when he was masquerading as Odin. That thought was vaguely disturbing.

"I believe you. Besides, Barbie strikes me as a very physically affectionate person." Among other things he wasn't going to point out. "It's not a huge surprise."

They were both staring at him now. Tony wondered if there was grease on his face or something.

"You're quite an intriguing mortal, aren't you, Man of Iron?" Amora commented.

Her eyes—very, very green, like Loki's, although not exactly the same shade—met his own. There was a question there, and maybe an understanding.

Amora didn't often apologize, and Tony wasn't the forgiving type. But in Amora's eyes, Tony saw what had been growing inside him for the past few months. The need to protect.

Loki hadn't had anyone to protect him for a long time. He was in pieces. And Tony tried, he tried so hard, but it felt like the shards of glass were dissolving into sand between his fingertips, and Loki was disappearing more and more. During every single visit, he was more ethereal than before.

Tony was a genius, but he could understand when he had a problem he couldn't fix on his own. And the fact remained that he wasn't the best person to give comfort.

Amora, on the other hand... She knew Loki from childhood. Yeah, she had fucked up, badly, but she seemed determined to make amends. The spell, while unpleasant for Tony, had told Tony that much. And she was here now.

This was crazy—but, what-the-fuck-ever. Tony had done crazier things. He sat down on the couch next to Loki and gestured for Amora to join them. She did, looking intrigued.

Loki was still tense, so Tony rolled his eyes and shoved him down. Loki ended up with his head in Amora's lap and his feet in Tony's.

"Relax, Lo. When was the last time you slept?"

Loki blinked dazedly at the ceiling. "I don't remember."

Amora huffed in obvious frustration and pulled his hair. "Go to sleep, idiot."

Loki obediently closed his eyes. Seconds later, he was out like a light.

"Jesus," Tony whispered once he was sure Loki was asleep. "At this rate we won't have to wait for you know who. He's going to kill himself."

"He's not well," Amora confirmed. "But he's also not liable to listen."

"That's where we come in, right, Barbie? Look, I won't lie. I have no idea what I'm doing here. Loki and I... We've only really known each other for a handful of months, and we met when he was brainwashed and he tossed me out the window. But..."

He trailed off, not really comfortable baring his heart to Amora. She seemed to understand, though, and she didn't press. "We can help each other, I think, Man of Iron."

"Awesome."

Tony carefully slid from under Loki's legs. Not that it mattered. Loki was usually a light sleeper, but today, he was so exhausted it would have taken Thor or some Hulk smashings to wake him.

He picked Loki up and carried him to the bedroom. Amora followed without being told to.

Once he set Loki down on the bed, Tony turned toward his guest. "You wanna stay or go?"

Amora didn't hesitate. "I shall stay, Man of Iron."

She flicked her fingers, and suddenly, her dress melted into a green neglige that left next to nothing to the imagination. Well, okay then. If that was how she wanted to play it, Tony wasn't going to be awkward about it.

Yes, he had a thing about beautiful people, and yes, he was attracted to Amora. But this wasn't about sexual chemistry. This was about Loki, rebuilding something a true monster had crushed, and preparing to destroy said monster.

Tony took off his shirt and shoes, considered his jeans, then decided not to tempt fate and kept them on. A shower would have been useful, but again, tempting fate. He'd just leave it until morning. He didn't want to waste what little time he had with Loki anyway.

For a few seconds, Tony then found himself in a quandary. He'd forgotten to take off Loki's clothes and that damn leather ensemble, while sexy as fuck, was also very uncomfortable to sleep in.

Thankfully, Amora had his back. She waved a hand, and Loki's clothes vanished, leaving him in a sort of nondescript pair of sleeping pants.

Tony was intrigued. He'd seen Loki do similar things before, but somehow, he'd never gotten the chance to ask about it, because half the time, his mouth had been busy with other things. "Nice. Can you do that to anyone? I mean, could you do that to Cap, leave him out of his spandex?" Or more importantly, to him, who actually needed the armor in battle?

Amora gave him a knowing look. "Yes and no. Items can be removed off an opponent's body, but some are more resilient than others."

Oh. Okay, so that made sense. She'd been able to affect the armor up to a point, but not completely rip it off.

Tony shelved the thought for a different time and focused on the here and now. He joined Loki on the bed and curled against his side. Loki's body was pleasantly cool—not icy, no matter what Loki said, just nice. Since the reactor, Tony had never liked being warm much. Even now that he'd removed it, it made him uncomfortable. Being close to Loki was always nice.

Amora took Loki's other side and set her head on his shoulder. She looked like she belonged there. She must have done this a thousand times in the past, when Tony had been just a dust mote, when the Stark line hadn't even existed.

Not that Tony felt self-conscious or anything. Nope, not him.

Amora's piercing gaze set on him, so very green. When she spoke, her words completely changed the topic from what they'd been discussing before. "What about you, Man of Iron? How long has it been since you've slept?"

"I sleep. I took a nap yesterday. I think."

Amora snorted. "Go to sleep, Anthony, before I change my mind and I cast a spell on you."

Tony obeyed. The last thought that occurred to him was that this was the first time Amora had called him by his given name, and then the exhaustion got the better of him and he succumbed to slumber.

****

When Loki awoke, he was sandwiched between two warm, very familiar bodies. Amora's hair tickled his arm and the scent of sweat and metal reminded him he was safe—he was on Midgard, with Anthony.

He cracked his eyes open, wondering if he should be embarrassed that he'd passed out like that. He hadn't seen Anthony in so long, and here he was, wasting the little time they had by sleeping. Not to mention that he still hadn't gotten the chance to talk to him about Amora's love spell.

Anthony didn't seem to doubt him and that made Loki's heart clench in his chest. But Anthony's construct would undoubtedly see the possibilities, even if Anthony refused to. It would happen.

He was startled from his thoughts when he realized Amora wasn't actually sleeping. She had been still and quiet until now, but her fingers trailed over his naked chest, making their way to Anthony. She didn't touch Anthony, but she made it clear that she was tempted. "He is unusual, your Midgardian," she whispered.

Unusual was putting it lightly and didn't do Anthony justice.

"He is special," he amended. He let himself pet Anthony's hair. It was greasy and smelled like machine oil, but he didn't mind. Sometimes, it happened like that, because Anthony came directly from the lab (no time to waste, so little time they had together). The scent was so different from anything he'd found on Asgard or in the void that it relaxed Loki and chased his nightmares away.

"He loves you. He truly, genuinely loves you."

Loki swallowed around the knot in his throat. It was painful to acknowledge, but in his heart, Loki knew that she was right. "He shouldn't."

"I disagree." Amora lifted her head, and her chin dug slightly into Loki's chest as she looked at him. "How exactly did this come to be, Loki?"

She had not asked before, and Loki had been grateful for that. But here, in the silent comfort of Anthony's bedchambers, Loki could reveal it. "I already told you I needed an ally against Midgard. But... By the time I came to see Anthony, I was already very strained." He was still grieving his mother and his recovery from Kurse's wound had not gone well. Even with all his magic, the spear that had gone through him had been tainted with Kurse's blood, and it had left traces. "I am sure you know that Anthony is largely responsible for the defeat of the Chitauri. He delivered the projectile that took out the Chitauri motherships. But in doing so, he was forced to enter the void, and that is no place for a mortal."

It had been unexpected. Loki had come investigating the anomaly, as well as the Avengers. Even then, he had known Midgard's heroes would be instrumental in defeating Thanos.

He'd put on an invisibility spell and had teleported to the platform where he'd once fought Thor during the invasion. He'd thought the enchantment would keep him safe.

It hadn't. Anthony's construct had detected him. Anthony had come to him, just like he had the day of their first meeting. The other Avengers had not been present, but Anthony had been wearing the armor.

"So, what can I help you with, Reindeer Games? I don't suppose you're here to reconcile with your brother. He's been moping ever since he came back to Earthgard."

Loki had dropped his spell, too tired to pretend. Later, Anthony had confessed that it had surprised him, because he'd only been making an educated guess based on readings that were half-accurate.

"Perhaps I'm just here for that drink you promised me."

"Tell you what, Reindeer Games. You can have that drink, if I have some answers."

And so, Anthony had become the first person who'd actually asked Loki what had happened and had truly listened. Loki had told him, although he'd skimmed over the torture. And he'd been quiet for so long, that he'd said far more than he'd anticipated or even intended.

Anthony had noticed. "You know, you're being strangely open with this whole thing."

"I cannot help it, I'm afraid. No one has bothered to ask before. They are all very comfortable blaming me. The All-Father deems me a liar, so my attempts to convince him of Thanos's arrival were futile. Man of Iron... I know that I have wronged your world, and at this point, you may do as you please. But I am telling you the truth, and I cannot do this alone."

He hadn't expected Anthony to actually believe him. In fact, he'd thought the first thing Anthony would do was summon Thor and thus destroy everything Loki had been trying so hard to build.

But Anthony had given him a chance. He'd given Loki the benefit of the doubt.

Two weeks later, he'd been in Anthony's lab, when one of Anthony's favored songs had come in. The singer had made a sound reminiscent of the Chitauri's chirping speech, and it had propelled Loki into the worst panic attack he'd had in ages.

When his head had cleared, he'd found Anthony bent over him, his deep brown eyes brimming with understanding and compassion. Loki should have been irritated—because how could a mortal presume to pity him?—but Anthony's scent had been so different, and even then, it had comforted him.

He'd reached out—and that had been the beginning.

He realized he'd fallen silent during his explanation to Amora when she passed a hand through his hair and gently whispered, "Loki?"

"My apologies." Loki cleared his throat. "As I was saying... Anthony sought answers for what he'd seen in the void. Coincidentally, I had these answers and I needed someone who would listen. From there... It sort of happened organically."

Amora nodded, like she understood. Maybe she did. Or at least she was trying.

"Well, I cannot blame you for your pull to him. You always did find the prettiest things." She looked at Anthony. "Shiny, shiny boy."

The words might have sounded odd for others, but Loki understood exactly what Amora meant. Yes, Anthony did shine. It was akin to the energy of seidr users, although not quite the same. Anthony's true worth did not lay in his looks or his money. Although he was certainly handsome, and Loki lusted for him at a carnal level, his intelligence was far more important. It was the same thing that had drawn him to Amora—her cleverness, her wit, her talent in magic. Not necessarily her beauty, although that was definitely remarkable, but her intelligence.

She shone too. He wondered if she knew it.

What was he thinking? She was Amora. Of course she knew.

"And what are you smirking about, hmm?" Amora asked, arching a perfect blond brow.

"Oh, nothing. Just an idle thought."

"I love your idle thoughts. They're usually quite dangerous." Amora leaned in closer to Loki, her breath mingling with his. "Do tell me all about it."

That was the problem with Amora. Loki was terrible at denying her. He had loved her for so long that he didn't know how to stop. When she'd left him, he'd truly believed no one could ever worm his way back in. Until Anthony.

And he shouldn't do it, he shouldn't take a leap again. Like he had told Amora, sentiment never worked out for him. It was what had led him to spiral into madness, let go of Gungnir and end up in Thanos's hands.

But she was there, and so familiar, and she smelled like thyme and belladonna, and he wanted her.

It was so difficult. He had not felt so torn in ages. If anyone else had done what she had—if anyone else had attempted to attack Anthony—Loki would have made them regret it. But he could hardly bring himself to be too angry, not when all of her wrath had been on his behalf. Even Anthony had understood that.

All things considered, Loki would have probably done something very stupid if he hadn't felt Anthony stir by his side. Both he and Amora froze.

Amora didn't jump away—that was something she could ever do, but she did pull back slightly. It gave Loki room to turn and face his Midgardian.

Anthony's gaze met his own in the dim light of the bedroom. "Oh, please, don't mind me. Carry on." Anthony waved a hand between the two of them. "Do continue."

The last thing Loki wanted was to hurt Anthony or leave him for Amora. "Anthony, I..."

"Seriously, Lo, I mean it. Don't stop on my account."

And he did mean it. It wasn't that he wasn't jealous, but neither did he blame Loki. Loki realized with a pang that he'd been similar after Amora had first decided to show interest in Thor.

Before he could say anything about it, though, Amora stepped in. "Oh, come now, Anthony. Do not insult me. Do you truly believe we would exclude you?"

Anthony blinked at her. "Uh..."

Amora slid off Loki and pushed Anthony down over the pillows. It wasn't forcible, but Loki could hardly blame Anthony for going along with it.

She brushed her fingers over his cheek."You are so handsome. I think I'm going to keep you."

"No offense to you, Barbie, but I'm not sure I want to be kept."

Amora huffed. "We shall see about that. You know, Loki and I have always had similar tastes. In everything. Even men."

She bit his ear, and Anthony's breath caught. Loki really should have intervened, but seeing them together... It was more arousing than expected.

Anthony made a valiant effort to resist her. His hands landed on her hips, but he didn't quite push her away. "Barbie, I'm not sure this is a very good idea."

"Why not?" she whispered. "Is it because I am a villain? Because I enthralled your friends? I will be the first to admit that it was not my brightest moment, but in my defense, I was quite angry. Loki is already very cross with me, you know."

Anthony swallowed audibly and gave Loki a pleading look. "Is he?"

Loki finally managed to make his body move. "Of course. It is not like I appreciated her attacking you."

He gripped Amora's waist and lifted her off Anthony. "Enough, Amora. Anthony has already made it clear that he isn't interested."

"Well, if you want to be boring." Amora shrugged. "But I think you don't give him enough credit. Isn't that right, my armorsmith?"

Loki looked at Anthony again, and yes, she was right, Anthony was aroused. But that didn't necessarily mean anything. Even when the body was willing, the heart and the mind might not be.

"I apologize, Anthony. Amora is very good at these games and she often does not know when to stop."

"No, it's okay. I guess... She's not necessarily wrong." Anthony shot Loki a sheepish smile. "This is very weird, though."

"It doesn't have to be." Amora's voice lost its seductive tone. "It can be as easy or as complicated as you desire."

"But about Ken? Won't he be mad?"

"Ken?" Amora repeated. "Oh, you mean Skurge. No, we are not like that."

"You will find, Anthony, that Amora always does as she pleases. She is a free spirit."

"I can see that," Anthony replied. She looked from Loki to Amora, then back to Loki. "Ah, the hell with it. Okay. But on one condition. No more love spells."

"No more love spells," Amora agreed. "My shiny, shiny boy."

And Anthony would have probably protested the pet name, but then, Amora was kissing him, and then kissing Loki. The apprehension and questions faded away—and all that was left was the passion.


	9. Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, the update for The Most Destructive Emotion! You'll probably notice that the rating has been changed now :)   
> Thank you to everyone who read, kudos-ed and especially commented on this story. I very much appreciate the feedback. On that note, enjoy!

Tony had once called himself a genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist. He'd given up the playboy part after Afghanistan, with Pepper, but false modesty aside, he had to say he was pretty experienced in bed. He'd done a bit of everything, although he hadn't ventured in more extreme kinks. He'd had sex with men and women, and it hadn't been unusual for him to have multiple partners.

He'd still been completely unprepared for Loki. Loki always had a way of taking him apart piece by piece. Sometimes, he was almost... fierce in bed, wild, fucking Tony so hard he left bruises despite Tony's new and improved body. Sometimes, he rode Tony into orgasm after orgasm. Other times, he was impossibly focused, almost... surgical in his attention. Kind of like they both were when they focused on a project.

And then, Tony had agreed to bring Amora into the mix. How could he not? In truth, it was ridiculous to refuse. He had given her something far more important—his trust and his secrets. Compared to that, sex wasn't that complicated.

And he kind of expected for everything to be about Loki, since that was why both Amora and Tony were really here. It wasn't. In fact, the first time around, Tony was the one in the middle.

After they got rid of their clothes—or rather, Loki did, with a flick of his fingers—Tony somehow ended up on top of Amora, kissing and sucking her breasts. Loki was behind him, and when Loki slid his fingers inside Tony, Tony did the same to Amora. She was already wet, and so impossibly tight.

Tony lowered his mouth to taste her, and Loki mimicked him, and really, one would have thought Tony would have gotten used to the things Loki could do with his tongue, but he really hadn't.

Amora wasn't exactly idle either. She held onto his hair as he sucked on her clit, letting out breathy gasps that made her enjoyment clear. Soon, she was encouraging him to get inside her, and it would have taken a man stronger than Tony to resist.

As Tony thrust inside Amora, Loki pushed inside him. And Tony might be going to hell for this, but what a fucking way to go.

After that, it only got better. The Apple had given Tony improved stamina in bed, and he'd been missing Loki for quite some time. Loki and Amora had clearly missed one another, but Amora also seemed fascinated with Tony for some obscure reason. So they ended up having sex in every possible combination. No, really. In every possible combination. Apparently, magic strap-ons were a thing. And she really, really loved it when both of them fucked her at the same time.

At one point, Loki even had one of his clones around, although by then, Tony was getting a bit light-headed out of pure sensual overload.

They didn't fall asleep as much as pass out. Tony woke up between two Asgardian magic users and wondered how the hell this was his life.

Amora and Loki were seated cross-legged on the bed, one of Tony's right, the other on his left. They were both still naked, but they were in the strange yoga-like pose that Tony had seen Loki use before. They were holding hands right above Tony's body. The end result was that Tony was being used as a sort of meditation table.

Tony really couldn't say he minded. A very light buzz emanated from the point of contact between his two lovers and it pooled straight into him. It was sexy, yes, but it was also kind of relaxing, calming.

As a rule, he was terrible at lying still. He always needed to do something, to occupy his mind, to jot down the ideas buzzing wildly through his brain. It was why he had tablets spread out all over the tower, and he didn't go anywhere without his tech.

But in that moment, Tony was content to just lay there, between the two Asgardians who'd not so long ago tried to kill him.

Yep, his life was quite possibly insane, but it was oh, so good.

He must have dozed off again—which spoke volumes of just how exhausted last night's proceedings had left him—because when he opened his eyes once more, Loki and Amora were already up, standing in front of the bed, and very regrettably dressed.

However, they hadn't left. They could have, but Tony was glad they hadn't. He was honest enough with himself to realize he'd have felt like shit if they'd just up and disappeared on him.

Still, he was also realistic, so he understood that morning brought back all the problems they'd ignored the night before. "Do you have to go?" he asked, stretching lightly.

"I have to return to Asgard, yes," Loki said. He paused briefly, and his eyes followed the lines of Tony's body. He didn't reach for Tony, though. "Officially, I am in Nornheim, but there is only so long Karnilla can delay things for me."

Tony nodded, although he couldn't help but be disappointed. "Okay. But keep me posted."

"Starting now, I will be assisting," Amora said. "I have the ability to teleport, and I can hide from Heimdall's gaze. I will have to be careful, but I will still be able to watch over Loki and bring you news."

Loki let out a frustrated sigh. "You know, Amora, I'm not actually a child. You don't have to babysit me."

Amora looked unimpressed. "Well, darling, I'm afraid you're going to have to deal with it. I am sure Anthony will be very relieved to have my assistance, no?"

"Hell yeah. It really sucks to just have to wait around for news." He knew Amora was probably manipulating Loki quite shamelessly, but he didn't mind playing along. "Half the time, I'm not sure if each letter you send is going to be the last one."

And... That was a little more honest and more pathetic than he'd intended. Loki looked stricken, as if the extent of Tony's concern hadn't occurred to him.

"Anthony..."

"Relax, Lo. I know you're doing what you can. I'm just saying it'll be nice to have Barbie around to help."

And if anyone would have told Tony that he'd be relying on Amora for something so important, he'd have deemed them crazy—but hey, stranger things had happened. Like him befriending a scientist with breathtaking anger management issues, playing host to a Capsicle and a couple of master assassins, having certain feelings for the guy who'd once led an invasion on New York, while secretly trying to keep it from everyone else—including the guy in question. So yeah, this was his life now, and Tony had learned to roll with the punches.

Loki didn't seem convinced by his attempt to reassure him. "It might not be for much longer," he said, a little tightly. "By now, everyone is aware that the All-Father is under a lot of strain. Him going into the Odinsleep would not be unusual or unexpected."

Secretly, Tony thought his lover needed a Lokisleep of his own. Loki looked far better than he had the day before, and some of the tension had drained out of him, but still, it was far too much for one guy to carry the weight of a kingdom while permanently keeping up the facade of being an entirely different person, fearing betrayal and dreading the incipient arrival of foreign invaders. A break would do Loki well.

"So it'll be safe to leave Asgard?"

Loki nodded. "The All-Father will not awaken. I have been thinking about it and will make arrangements for everything that is needed within the next week. Once I am certain Thor will somehow not manage to blame Karnilla for the Odinsleep, I will proceed. It is time."

"Good." Tony didn't bother disguising his relief. "You can hang out on Earth with Barbie and me. It'll be fun."

He'd have to come up with a way to leave New York, maybe take some time for himself in Malibu. The Avengers generally didn't seem to be surprised when he up and left—it was pretty much attributed to his PTSD, and it wasn't really wrong. Maybe he could claim this whole thing with Amora had given him bad recollections.

He'd think of something.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Loki's expression suddenly grew a little grim. "Anthony... Before we go... There is a matter that we have not actually addressed."

Uh-oh. Tony didn't like the sound of that. Was this when they said the night before had been a mistake? Tony struggled not to panic and forced a smile. "What's on your mind, Reindeer Games?"

Loki shared a look with Amora. It was the kind of thing that spoke volumes of the closeness between them, and Tony had a weird moment during which he wondered if he should feel excluded. He both did and didn't. Strange.

Finally, Amora took a step forward and spoke. "The matter rotates around the love spell I cast on your friends," she said. "Loki has... concerns regarding how you might interpret it."

At first, Tony wasn't sure what she meant. Then he gave it some thought and realization dawned. "Oh! You mean that I'd think..." Tony trailed off a little awkwardly. Well then, that answered the question on how obvious he'd been about his feelings for Loki. "It actually didn't occur to me at all," he offered. "I suppose it should have."

It was practically admitting what so far, Loki had only sort of guessed, and it made Tony want to roll under the bed and hide. But he didn't. Instead, he faced his two lovers without flinching. Really, this was a conversation he'd have liked to have dressed, but oh well.

He considered what he knew about the spell. It seemed that up to a point, Amora's enchantment had been based on pre-existing feelings, even if, before that, they'd been of an entirely different nature. He supposed it would have been possible, since Tony was man enough to admit that he'd been fascinated with Loki even during the invasion. But somehow, Tony didn't think Loki would've done something like that. It wasn't his style.

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're the one with the love spells, right, Barbie? I very much doubt Loki would go that route. And besides, it's not like I suddenly decided to sign my company over to him and paint my armor green. It was a gradual process."

"So... You don't believe I enchanted you?" Loki asked. He sounded quite shocked.

Tony gave Loki a pained look. "Work with me here, Lo. You know I'm terrible at... feelings."

Weirdly enough, it was Amora who replied. She left Loki's side and climbed back onto the bed. "Not as terrible as you might think." She leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. "Shiny, shiny boy."

"I resent that description," Tony said, only half-meaning it. He found that it was a little hard to stay angry, especially when Loki had joined them and was running his fingers through Tony's hair. "Anthony," he whispered, "I wish we could stay longer. But we truly must go. In the meantime, I thank you for your trust."

And wasn't that the gist of it? Regardless of the night they'd spent together, the most important thing was this. Tony trusted Loki, and he trusted that Amora wanted what was best for Loki. The rest... Well, half the time Tony wasn't very sure about it. But for the moment he'd stick with the trust. Although the kisses were nice. Oh, yeah, they were definitely nice.

Sadly, they truly didn't have the time to share more than kisses. Both Loki and Amora pulled away and left the bed. A few seconds later, they teleported out of the room.

Tony was left staring at the spot where his two lovers had been in a mix of disbelief and wariness."Did that really happen, Jay?"

"If by that, you are referring to you spending the night with Lady Amora and Mr. Silvertongue, yes, it did actually happen."

Tony groaned and buried his face in the pillows. It smelled like Loki, and he was used to that, but there was also a hint of something different now, an added ingredient to their weird little cocktail.

And Tony didn't know much about perfumes, but he'd have expected that a lady like Amora would smell like roses—literally. She didn't. She carried a fresh, herbal scent, but it wasn't really sweet or flowery. It suited her.

"I'm in big trouble, aren't I, Jay?"

"Extrapolating from past data, Sir, it would seem that you might be correct."

Oh, well. Tony had jumped into this, so it was too late to back out. And weirdly enough, he found that he didn't want to.

In fact, he caught himself smiling. Sometimes, you had to run before you could walk, and sometimes, you just had to put your faith in the unlikeliest person possible. So far, it seemed they were more reliable than the people he'd once believed in.

****

Over the next week, Amora made rounds. She traveled from Asgard to Midgard, bringing news of Loki to their handsome armorsmith.

She grew accustomed to the familiar, and also fascinated by him—although not as fascinated as she was with her shiny boy. In some ways, he was so much like Loki. It was unsurprising that Loki found him appealing. But at the same time, they were very different. Loki could be absolutely fastidious about the state of his chambers. Meanwhile, Anthony's private space—his workshop—was a complete mess.

Anthony had the familiar bring her there on her fourth visit, and she immediately loved it. He worked on something akin to Loki's illusions, amid a chaos of parts and metallic creatures that seemed to form a puzzle only he could distinguish. Loud music shook the walls, and Anthony only shut it down when she entered the workshop.

"Hey, Barbie," he greeted her without looking away from the displays. "I'd apologize for the mess, but at this point, I think it doesn't surprise you."

Amora hummed absently, greedily glancing around. "I don't mind."

As she approached, several metallic creatures rolled closer to her, poking her side. They almost seemed like curious pets, tilting their "heads" toward her as if fascinated. Anthony tsked at the odd being. "DUM-E, what did I tell you? Mind your manners with the ladies."

"Manners, Anthony?"

Anthony finally turned to look at her. He had dark circles underneath his eyes, but the glint in his gaze made it clear that he wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. "It's self-preservation, Barbie. The women I've known lately tend to stab me, kidnap me, attack me with magic or explode."

Amora brushed her lips over his. "Do let me know if I need to intervene." It wouldn't do if anyone tried to steal her armorsmith's attentions, after all.

"Thanks, but I'm good. Seems they lose interest fairly quickly."

Amora blinked. "Mortal women are stupid, aren't they?"

Before Anthony could react to that, the metallic creature made a small chirping noise, its head moving at it analyzed her.

"They're learning bots," Anthony explained. "You're new, and I don't often bring new people down here. They did that to Loki too."

The underlining meaning was that Anthony was trusting her with something important to him. He was clearly putting a lot of effort and a lot of faith into this new, frail thing between them. And Amora knew it was largely because of Loki, but she still vowed to herself Anthony would never regret his choice.

She patted the metallic arm and leaned in closer to Anthony. "What are you doing?"

"Right now, I'm working on JARVIS-operated suits. I've been working on the project for some time. It isn't implemented just yet, but I'm almost there. I call it the Iron Legion."

"For increased security, I take it," Amora guessed. "The Iron Legion. I like it."

Anthony chuckled. "You would. Anyway, I haven't had the time to finish it so far, because I've been trying to see if I can expand on the stealth module I incorporated into the armor. It's useful that Heimdall can't see us while we're here, but we won't be able to stay in New York forever. It's too risky."

Amora climbed onto a metallic table, considering his words. "It should be safe enough. Once Loki is off the throne and Thor takes over, Heimdall will have other things to worry about than look on Midgard. Loki can cloak himself again, and if Heimdall notices, it can always be blamed on me."

"That'll come in handy. How is he doing?"

"Well enough. He's looking forward to a break. We're being careful, since we can't risk discovery."

Anthony nodded. "Speaking of which... The Avengers are sort of wondering where you went. It might be a good idea to pop up somewhere. But... If you do, I don't want any people hurt. Okay?"

"I actually have been thinking about that too. I need to retrieve Skurge's axe. It is too dangerous to remain here anyway, especially around your beast."

Anthony blinked. "Bruce?"

"Yes. The axe carries a... curse, I suppose. Skurge is the only one capable of bearing its burden, and it is, in part, why he needs me."

"Yeah, I did notice some weird radiation coming off it and I had it sealed off. We've had enough of one magical weapon screwing with our minds."

"Ah, yes. The scepter. Loki tells me it is in your Hydra's hands now."

"Yeah. We've been trying to find it, but it's sort of difficult since I can't exactly go out and say I know where it is. Cap might buy it, but Natasha is naturally suspicious and if she starts looking too closely at what I'm doing it could be a problem. And Thor seems reluctant to use Asgardian resources. I guess the real All-Daddy wouldn't be so friendly."

"You guess correctly. No matter what he might pretend, he does not care overmuch for mortals." Foolish on Odin's side. Midgardians were fascinating. Or perhaps that was just her shiny boy. "I will seek it out and then coordinate with your familiar to come retrieve the axe."

It was just as well. She tended to bring Skurge along when she looked in on Loki in Asgard, but they never stayed long. And she had decided that for the moment, she preferred to come to Midgard alone. Her armorsmith was unlikely to talk to her while Skurge was present.

"Let me finish up with the Legion. That way, you can blow up as many bots as you want and no one will be in danger." He paused and gave Amora an inscrutable look. "Any news on you know who?"

Amora shook her head. "Loki can't see him from Hlidskjalf, and my scrying hasn't yielded any results. He must be beyond our reach still. But that doesn't mean he isn't still coming."

"Yeah, I know." Anthony pressed his lips together. "Listen, Barbie... Can I ask you... What do you know about this dude? I've asked Loki some, but... You know how it is."

"I will tell you what I can. And perhaps... I can bring you some of my old tomes of magic. It might help with your quest."

Anthony immediately perked up. "You'd teach me? I know Loki wanted to, but he's never had time."

"We both will. You carry your own brand of seidr, Anthony Stark, and now that Loki has given you the Apple, you can use it in other ways." She pulled him closer and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. "I have the utmost faith in you."

"Do you?" he croaked out.

Amora nodded, curling her fingers through his hair. "I do. My shiny boy."

He didn't reply through words. Instead, his hands slid under her skirt, easily zeroing in on her folds. He took her there, on the table, in the chaos of his workshop, his rough fingers strikingly gentle on her skin, his mouth drinking in her kisses. And for all that she knew this was dangerous, Amora couldn't bring herself to regret any of it.

She had not expected to find her shiny boy on Midgard, but she was nothing if not adaptable, and she would embrace this unexpected gift with every fiber of her being. After all, Loki did always have excellent taste.


	10. The Cursed Axe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here is the update for The Most Destructive Emotion. On this note, thank you to everyone who kudos-ed and commented on this story. For a few days, possibly until next week, I will likely be unable to update anything for work-related reasons. In the meantime, I hope you like the chapter!

It was a dreary day and Thor was, for the most part, alone at the Tower. The Man of Iron had left a few hours before for a meeting in something that concerned his kingdom. The Lady Potts had ambushed him with a sort of celebration, and while the Man of Iron had refused to go at first, he'd relented eventually.

Thor would have perhaps gone as well—the party was for a good cause, something in reference to the organization led by the Man of Iron's late mother—but he couldn't bring himself to leave the tower. Perhaps it was precisely because of that, because the celebration reminded him of Asgard, of everything he had lost. Seeing Amora again had made the wound of Loki's loss even worse, because now, he had to wonder—what had he missed? Was she right? Had Loki truly not wanted to lead Asgard or Midgard?

During one of their last conversations, Thor had reneged of Loki. He'd denied any sort of bond they might have had left. And then Loki had taken Kurse's blade in Thor's stead. Now, Thor would never get his answers. All he had was guilt and regret.

The captain and the Lady Widow were also gone, presumably on their mission to find Steven's lost shield-brother. Clinton had left to see the wife none of them had known about. Only Doctor Banner remained in the Tower. The Man of Iron had asked him to come along to the party, but Doctor Banner had refused. Thor was still embarrassed over the memory of what he'd told his _berseker_ friend.

If only Jane had agreed to forgive him. But alas, while she had understood he hadn't been himself at the time of their separation, she had told him that he'd nevertheless had a good point. They had no future. She was a mortal and he was the prince of Asgard, soon to be king. Where could she possibly fit into his life?

Thor would have liked to have better reassurances for her. Perhaps if he had, she wouldn't have left. But she had remembered how she'd been treated on Asgard. She had remembered being called a goat by the king himself. Something like that didn't just go away.

Thor had known then that he had failed her, so very badly, just like he had failed his brother.

What good was all of his strength, if he could do nothing to save his loved ones when the time came? His mother was dead. Loki was dead. Jane would slowly wither away, if she was not hit by one of the mortals' plagues.

The knowledge was more humbling than losing Mjolnir ever had been.

With an angry roar, Thor threw the hammer aside. It went straight through the television, shattering the device. He cursed at the damage. At least he hadn't broken the wall this time. Breaking mortar and stone would have been dangerous for the mortals walking past the tower.

He might have gotten even angrier with himself, but in that moment, a distinctive and familiar female voice sounded behind him. "Tsk tsk. Temper, temper, thunderer."

Thor pivoted on his heel, Mjolnir already in his hand again. Belatedly, JARVIS's alarms began to sound. Thor didn't know how long she had been there since the Man of Iron's creation, while ingenious, could only do so much—but clearly, she'd seen enough of his embarrassing display.

Not that it mattered. She had to pay for what she had done to his mortal shield-brothers.

"Amora, you..."

Amora waved a hand and suddenly, Thor was incapable of speech. Amora took another step toward him, her hips swaying as she walked. "You do realize that the only reason you were protected from my enchantments was because of Loki, yes?" She smiled, a sharp, shark-like thing that was as beautiful as it was dangerous. "He and your mother had so many spells on your armor. But it was mostly him. But now... Well, you know what happens when a sorcerer perishes. Suitable, no? That you would only realize what you had once it was gone."

Dread exploded over Thor as he took in her words. It made sense then, that he had succumbed to her spell so easily, even if before, in Asgard, he hadn't. Perhaps even stronger than the dread was the grief, the knowledge that Loki had protected him even when Thor had belittled his talents.

If only he could understand... If only he could at least figure out what had happened... But none of it made sense. Since Amora's first attack and especially since his father had broken the spell, Thor had given it more and more thought and he had realized the Loki he had known would have likely never acted the way his brother had on Midgard.

Loki had been maddened during their battle on the Bifrost, that much was true, but he had always had a fondness for the Midgardians. In their youth, they'd traveled there, and Loki had liked them, for all that they were so short-lived.

And then there was the fall, the Tesseract. Thor had asked his brother once who controlled him—he'd never gotten his answer. He'd once again gotten caught up in the fervor of battle and he had forgotten about his brother's strange words on the cliff.

He desperately want to ask Amora, but he still could not speak. And they were running out of time for conversation anyway. Doctor Banner emerged from the elevator, already turning green.

Amora leaped out of the way out the Hulk, laughing as she took refuge behind the still frozen Thor. "Ah, yes, the green _berseker_. Where are your other companions? Did they leave you all alone, thunderer? How sad for you. And fortunate for me."

Amora teleported away just as the Hulk swept his massive fist forward. It hit Thor hard and sent him flying back against the wall. Thor usually enjoyed sparring with the green beast, but now was hardly the time for that.

Sadly, by the time Thor got up, Amora was already gone, and the Hulk was looking around, finding noone but Thor to take his anger out on. Thor genuinely did not know what to do. Banner was his shield-brother, but Thor did not know how to bring him out of his rage. Usually, the Man of Iron or the Lady Widow did it.

He supposed he could pin the Hulk down with Mjolnir, but the thought just reminded him of Loki again, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Prince Thor," JARVIS alerted, "the sorceress known as Amora is making her way down the lower levels. I have deployed security, but it is only slowing her down. Sir is on his way back from the party, but he may not arrive in time."

Thor couldn't just stand here and twiddle his thumbs because of the Hulk. He couldn't walk past the Hulk—Banner might have not attacked yet, but chances were he would see Thor as a threat if he approached—but he could fly out.

JARVIS seemed to expect this, because he slid the doors open for Thor. Using Mjolnir, Thor flew out. It was only when he'd already launched himself into the air that he realized he hadn't asked JARVIS at which level he could actually find Amora.

He could almost hear Loki laughing at him.

Fortunately, the sight of smoke coming out of a shattered window gave him a pretty good clue as to where exactly Amora was headed. Thor returned inside, only to be greeted by the sight of shattered robots and broken furniture.

Thor spared a moment to be thankful for the fact that the Man of Iron had implemented his new technology, because if he had not done so, the remains on the floor would not be metallic, but human. He knew better than to believe Amora would have spared the life of anyone who stood in her way.

JARVIS guided him down a corridor and through several passageways. This level of the building, Thor now remembered, was where Anthony held his secondary labs. It also held, among other things, a Hulk Cage, and high level storage facilities, although from the outside, it would not have seemed like it. This was where Skurge's axe had been stored. And of course Amora had wanted to retrieve her pet's weapon. They just hadn't expected that it would be so important.

Thor followed the trail of destruction. He didn't find Amora again, but he did find Skurge, who was currently surrounded by a group of Anthony's creations. They had him crowded on the floor and were using blasts similar to the Man of Iron's weapons to hold him there.

Elated, Thor rushed forward, but a blast of power hit him in the chest before he could reach his target. It was Amora.

She appeared out of nowhere, holding the axe. One sweep of her hand and two of the constructs exploded. She tossed the axe to Skurge and he took care of the other three.

"Until we next meet, Thunderer," she shouted as she grabbed Skurge's hand.

Thor tossed Mjolnir at them, but they were already gone. For a few moments, Thor just stared at the spot where they'd been in complete disbelief. How could things go so wrong in so little time?

Like a man in a dream, Thor returned to the previous floor, this time taking the elevator—which had miraculously survived with very little damage. The sound of the strange music Doctor Banner enjoyed reached Thor's ears. "Has Doctor Banner returned to his previous form?"

"Not yet, Prince Thor," JARVIS replied, "but his heart rate is slowing down. Nonetheless, I would advise you to keep your distance for a while still."

Thor complied. He didn't have to wait for too long in the elevator—JARVIS soon reported his master had returned and had managed to talk Banner down.

As JARVIS directed him to the appropriate area, Thor found his shield-brothers in something resembling a warzone. The Man of Iron was in the middle of a conversation with JARVIS, and his hair was messy, like he'd been running his hand through it. "It's okay, JARV. It's not your fault. Let's just be thankful no one was hurt."

"Indeed, Sir."

The Man of Iron looked toward Thor. "You okay, Point Break?"

"I am well, Man of Iron. Merely angry."

"That's my line," Doctor Banner said, sounding tired. "Sorry. For punching you, Thor. And again, Tony... Sorry for the mess."

"Don't worry, Brucey. We'll just get the contractors here and it'll be fixed by morning." Anthony plopped down on the messy floor, next to the upended couch. "I wanted a new TV anyway."

"To be fair, Anthony," Thor said after a small moment of hesitation, "the TV is my fault. I destroyed it before Amora even arrived."

Both Doctor Banner and the Man of Iron turned to look at him. Then, they looked at one another and, as one, burst into laughter.

It wasn't that funny, but Thor could understand why they needed to find mirth in such a situation. And watching them, Thor thought that maybe he could smile a little too.

He just wished his brother were here. He'd surely have a clever quip, some sharp remark. "Of course you did. Oaf." And his mother would roll her eyes at both of them and say, "Now, Loki, be nice. Thor, the furniture is not a toy to play with."

Thor sat down next to his shield-brothers and closed his eyes. His chest ached, like he'd been the one stabbed by Kurse, not Loki. He wondered if the wound would ever heal.

JARVIS's voice snapped him out of his trance. "Sir, I believe you should see this."

"What is it, Jay?" the Man of Iron asked as Thor opened his eyes. "Did you find something?"

In response, JARVIS brought up the footage from the battle with Amora. He stopped it in a certain point—and that was when Thor spotted it.

Hidden underneath Amora's garments was one perfect blue stone. Amora's dress was low cut enough that when she'd moved too abruptly, it had slid slightly out, not enough for Thor to see, but impossible to miss for JARVIS.

The Man of Iron cursed. "Is that what I think it is?"

Thor nodded numbly. "The stone from my brother's scepter."

"Well, I guess that explains how she swept through the bots like they were nothing." Anthony leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "You know, I hate not having the answers, but sometimes, I hate the answers even more."

In that moment, Thor knew exactly what the Man of Iron meant.

****

Things had gone perfectly at her armorsmith's tower. But then, of course they had. JARVIS had been exceedingly cooperative, and all she'd had to do was flick her fingers for JARVIS to shut the bots down remotely and in the flashiest manner possible.

It was a good thing too, because she didn't actually want to use the stone. She knew what it had done to Loki, and she felt its evil trying to worm its way inside her.

Fortunately, sneaking into the Hydra facility had not been that difficult. She had taken Skurge along, of course, for all that he hadn't possessed the axe at the time, but the Hydra minions were among the most easily swayed minds she had ever encountered. It took almost no effort at all to make her way inside. The hardest part had been avoiding the machines—but she'd done it easily enough. It was a good time to reacquaint herself with her disguise-oriented magics, and she was proud to note that they'd worked perfectly.

Not as good as Loki's, since they weren't her specialty, but good enough for Midgardians.

The leader had been stronger than his minions, and he had two underlings with power that stemmed from the stone. Amora had sensed them, but they had not emerged, which was perhaps for the best.

By the time anyone realized anything was wrong, she had already taken the scepter with the stone and teleported herself and Skurge out.

In truth, the original idea had been to take the axe first, then go hunting for the stone, but she'd decided against it when she had realized that her armorsmith might come under suspicion if there wasn't a clear reason why she had sneaked in with such ease. They could have made it messier, but Anthony had been adamant that the human staff could only be delayed for so long, and he didn't want them to be hurt.

Thus—the stone.

Amora removed it from her neck the moment she reached her refuge. She slid it into her dimensional pocket, curling her lip in disgust.

Wicked thing. No wonder it had practically destroyed Loki.

Amora's own magic was tricky and insidious, but the stone still made her skin crawl. It almost felt... alive and it had its own will. Either that, or it was still bound to Thanos, despite the fact that Amora had destroyed the scepter.

Whatever the case, the stone would likely be needed if there was to be a confrontation with Thanos. The others were not beyond Amora's reach, but for the moment, she would not try to seek them. She had other things to worry about.

She watched as her executioner cleaned his cursed blade and considered her next move closely. For the moment, it all depended on Loki, and on whether or not he succeeded to make his escape from Asgard. And they had to be extra careful. They couldn't chance anything that would make the Avengers suspicious of Anthony.

"JARVIS?" she called out to the familiar. "How is Anthony?"

"For the moment, things are going well," her armorsmith's construct replied. "However, we anticipate some additional tension upon the return of Agent Romanov, Agent Barton and Captain Rogers."

"Keep me posted, JARVIS."

"Of course, Lady Amora."

Amora sighed. Well, nothing to do now but wait. She stepped out onto the deck and took a breath of deep sea air. In the distance, the ocean glittered, reminding her a little of Asgard.

It was fortunate indeed that they had managed to relocate to one of Anthony's yachts. It had been deemed the best solution, since this way, even if Heimdall did throw his sight upon Midgard, he would only see open waters. With Amora's magic, restocking would be easy and JARVIS was always vigilant for possible threats. But sometimes, when she stood here, alone on the deck, she couldn't help but shudder, remembering her return to Asgard—remembering how close she had come to never even seeing Loki's boat drift and burn, to having him die so far away from her.

She pushed the thought away. It had not happened. There was no point bemoaning it now. But what she could do was make sure nothing like that occurred again. "Skurge?" she called out to her executioner.

He came to her, just like he always did. "Enchantress?"

"There is a war coming, Skurge. I would have you make me an oath."

"Anything."

"You must protect Loki and Anthony Stark."

If Skurge was surprised, he didn't show it. "As is your wish, Enchantress. I will protect them."

Amora smiled and nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent."

Yes, there was a war coming, but she had to believe they could win it. She couldn't afford to lose Loki—not again—and she couldn't afford to lose the man she and Loki had both found.


	11. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, I managed an update! As promised, more of Loki this chapter :) On this note, thanks to everyone who left kudos or comments. The feedback is very helpful and feeds the muse.  
> Onwards!

Loki watched from Hlidskjalf as Amora stole the stone and the axe and suppressed a sigh of relief once she was safe and the stone was tucked away. Normally, he couldn't have seen her, but they had agreed on Loki having a tracking spell on her like he did on Anthony. It was a complicated enchantment, woven within their very selves, but it worked, and it gave Heimdall no room to wriggle his way in. It also provided Loki with the information he needed to proceed.

Everything was in place. He'd stretched his luck quite enough already. So far, no one seemed to suspect, but he couldn't take anymore chances.

He'd just have to hope Thor wouldn't make too much of a mess once he took the throne.

Loki directed his focus once more on the meeting—and what Tyr was saying. He had brought in a report on the assessment of the new defenses, adopted after the attack of the Dark Elves. Loki listened carefully until Tyr finished and then nodded. "Very good, General. Vigilance is of utmost importance. We cannot afford to be caught off guard again."

He allowed his gaze to drift for a brief instant, before he looked at the general again. He wasn't sure if Tyr had caught it, but he couldn't afford anything more obvious. The All-Father had always been careful in not displaying his fatigue, and some things never changed.

"Of course, All-Father," Tyr reported. He hesitated for a moment, and just like that Loki knew Tyr had noticed. Excellent. "Do you have any further orders?" Tyr asked at last.

Loki shook his head. "Dismissed."

Now alone, Loki waited for a few more minutes, throwing his glance over the realms—both Midgard and Asgard. Looking at Jotunheim made him want to flinch, but he forced himself to do it. For all that he hated his Jotnar legacy, destroying an entire world, no matter how desolate, had just proven that he was a monster.

Sometimes, he wondered how Anthony could even stand to be in his presence. Too bad he was too selfish to give his handsome Midgardian up.

Pushing back the thoughts, Loki left the throne and headed toward his father's quarters. There, he had hidden his secret, his backup plan.

It was quite possibly the riskiest plan ever, but to be fair, when Loki had put it together, he hadn't been in his best mindset. So many things could have gone wrong that Loki was increasingly horrified at what he was doing.

And yet, no one had figured it out. No one had realized that the All-Father was, in fact, in his own bed, sleeping, under an invisibility spell. Granted, this wasn't always his location—when the servants came in to clean, Loki relocated the All-Father to the Weapons' Vault.

It was quite possibly the craziest thing Loki had ever done, and it had been exhausting, but somehow, it had worked. And now, he could finally end it and hopefully retreat out of Asgard without getting caught.

The process was simple enough. Loki just had to go to the All-Father's rooms and act like he intended to retreat for the night. It was impossibly tedious and for all that he was a Liesmith, the illusion wearied him. Not to mention that he had feared his lie might not hold up to close scrutiny from Heimdall's part, since he didn't actually know how Odin acted in private.

He'd been fumbling in the dark for so long, it seemed. Anthony had been his only light, shining bright like the glow of the metal heart that had once protected him from the scepter. And now, there was Amora too, and while he knew better than to hope, Loki would still give it his all.

Every second of this had to be carefully calculated. He changed in a garb identical to the one the invisible All-Father wore. He left Gungnir next to what had been his mother's night table, turned down the lights, and went to lie down. It was unsettling to say the least, since he was essentially pretending to sleep next to the comatose All-Father.

Nevertheless, he endured. He waited for some time—it wouldn't do to leave immediately.

Finally, when he was satisfied that Heimdall's attention would likely be drawn to more interesting things, he turned ever so slightly on his back. At the very last moment, right before he and the All-Father could make contact, he flickered away and turned Odin visible.

The synchronization wasn't perfect, he knew that. Their positions hadn't been completely aligned. If Heimdall was watching, he'd be able to tell. But it was the best he could do, and so far, it had worked.

Of course, as much as Loki hated to admit it, there was always a chance that Heimdall might have known the truth all along. It would be just like the Gatekeeper to turn a blind eye to Loki's presence, just to amuse himself with the hoops Loki had to jump through to perpetuate his deception. But if that was the case, Heimdall would have had to trust Loki with the throne. He hadn't trusted Loki when he'd been the rightful second prince of Asgard, let alone after the debacle with Thor's coronation.

At any rate, it didn't matter anymore. Loki remained for a while longer in Asgard. He teleported to the now empty throne room and sat on the throne one last time, throwing his gaze over what had once been his homeworld. Heimdall remained as stoic as ever, in front of the Observatory, showing no sign that he'd noticed anything was wrong.

It could be a lie, but Loki was too tired to care. It was time to leave. Taking a deep breath, Loki zeroed in on Anthony's yacht, following the familiar feel of Amora's magic. Instants later, he was on the deck of the vessel, in front of Amora.

Amora didn't display any surprise at his presence. She did, however, smile slightly. It was almost unsettling to see. She hadn't smiled at him like that in so long. Loki had abandoned all hope that she ever would.

"I take it things went well in Asgard," she commented, taking his arm. "Come, sit. You look dead on your feet."

She directed him to a chaise longue and he obediently lay down, knowing better than to attempt to dissuade her. Perhaps he should have. Perhaps it was a blow to his pride, but he couldn't be bothered to care.

"It went as well as could be expected," he belatedly replied. "I believe Heimdall does not suspect. We will see further along the line if that is true or not."

"You think he might be deceiving you?"

"I know better than to be completely certain of anything," Loki said, closing his eyes. He had once been certain he was Odinson, and look at how that had turned out.

For the longest time, Amora didn't say anything. Her hand landed in his hair, and she pet him lightly.

The gesture took him back to simpler times, when they'd both been young and carefree and hadn't known what was truly waiting for them. Amora had always been a tactile person—it was just in her nature—and as her closest companion, he'd benefited from it long before their relationship had ever turned sexual.

It was nice, comforting, and it lulled Loki into a doze. He felt the embrace of Amora's magic and a few seconds later, he was no longer lying down on the chaise longue on the deck, but rather on a soft bed. "Sleep," Amora whispered again."You are safe now, Loki."

She didn't assure him that his safety was a certainty, that she would never leave again. She didn't make any promises. Maybe that was exactly why he believed her. As he surrendered to slumber, he idly thought that, if this time around he lost what certainties he did have, he might not survive it.

****

"How could this have happened? You said the drones—"

"Iron Legion," Tony cut Steve off, because nope, nothing he ever made would be called a drone—even if it was, in practice, exactly that. "I said the Iron Legion would be meant to help us and provide security for the tower and other Avengers and SI properties."

It was the morning after Amora's attack, and the whole team had finally gathered to go over yesterday's events. Natasha, Steve and Clint had returned the night before, and naturally, the first thing they did was to pounce on Tony and tell him how inadequate he was.

Clint arched a brow at a still of the destroyed robots. "Well, they don't look very effective to me."

Tony gritted his teeth to push back his frustration. It bothered him tremendously to make the Iron Legion look frailer than it was. Technically speaking, even with Amora's mojo, it would have taken a lot of effort for her to incapacitate the entire miniature army he had built. But the Avengers didn't need to know that.

"Well, Bird Boy, if you and Spangles had let me finish, I would have actually explained how this came to pass. JARV, give us the zoom."

JARVIS pulled up the view of Loki's gem, dangling from Amora's neck. Everyone froze. "So you see, Legolas, the Iron Legion actually was fairly effective—in the sense that at least it didn't give Amora any mind slaves."

It was a low blow, but he was tired and worried and frustrated because Pepper had gotten on his case about leaving the party. And then Steve had started to chew him up over the loss of the axe. And Tony was worried about Loki and he wanted to see Amora, and a part of him was always wondering if maybe Cap wasn't right, and he'd been stupid in letting them have the damn axe.

And yes, Steve wasn't wrong in that Amora getting the axe was Tony's fault, but he didn't actually know that. He was just lashing out at Tony because the whole debacle with Amora had interrupted his mission to find his murderous bestie.

JARVIS had told Tony that Loki had arrived on the yacht safely late last night, and that kept Tony sane, but until he saw Loki with his own eyes, he wouldn't be able to be free of this permanent restlessness. Not to mention that Loki didn't know for a fact the Heimdall hadn't noticed him, so there was that.

It was just as well that Thor and Bruce stepped in before Tony could make the situation even worse. "Friend Anthony is right, Steven," Thor said. "I myself attempted to stop the Enchantress and failed. Mortals could have not hoped to succeed."

Bruce rubbed his eyes tiredly. "The Other Guy might have had more luck but she just ran after getting me up here, so, yeah."

If Tony really regretted something about all this, it was getting Bruce involved. He knew how difficult it was for his science bro to turn into the Hulk. This time around, it had been unavoidable since Bruce hadn't wanted to come to the gala with Tony, but Tony would put more effort into keeping Bruce out of it in the future.

"So... Where does that leave us?" Clint asked at last. He didn't seem particularly angry that Tony had brought up the incident with Loki, but one never knew with Clint.

"I know not, Friend Clinton. Amora will definitely not abandon her plans. I am thinking of returning to Asgard and requesting assistance, especially now that she has acquired this relic."

"Your dad did help us last time," Tony said "You think you could do it again?"

"Perhaps. Heimdall cannot see her, but Father may already have a plan in place to deal with Amora."

See that was the thing about the Avengers. Just when Tony started to feel bad about lying to them, one of them said something that got on Tony's nerves. In Thor's case, it was unavoidably the trust Thor still displayed toward Odin. It always made him want punch Thor in the face.

Before his resolve and his control could be tested any further, the sky lit up with the distant glow of the Bifrost. "Uh... Something going on, Point Break? Were you expecting guests?"

His heart was hammering. Even knowing Loki was safe on the yacht, Tony couldn't possibly believe they were out of the woods. It was too easy to imagine someone coming up from Asgard to notify Thor of his brother's treachery. If that happened, the result would be disastrous for them all.

These weren't unusual thoughts for Tony, and fortunately, no one, not even Natasha, seemed to deem his slight nervousness suspicious. After all, how could they? Of course he was jumpy, after just having been attacked.

Thor was, perhaps, the jumpiest of all. He didn't bother waiting at the Tower. Instead, he rushed off the Iron Man platform and launched himself into the air, heading toward the Bifrost site.

Tony cursed. "Jay, armor. Quickly."

The armor assembled around him, and he followed after Thor, not too far behind him. He got to the park just in time to see Thor do the guy-clench with a woman Tony recognized as Sif.

He and Sif had never actually met, but he'd seen the footage from SHIELD. He suspected he'd have probably liked her, but after Loki had shed some light on his story—and what Sif and Thor's other friends had done... Well, suffice to say, he would have much preferred to spend as less time with her as possible.

In the end, it didn't really matter, because Sif hadn't come here for him. "Sif, what is the matter?" Thor asked her.

"It is the All-Father. He has fallen into the Odinsleep. Thor, you must return to Asgard at once."

Through the armor's communicators, Cap piped up, "Tony, what's the situation?"

"Well... Let's just say we won't be getting any backup from Asgard. In fact, I get the feeling we'll be on our own."

"What?" Steve's voice cracked slightly. "Why?"

"Thor Sr. went back to his nap. Seems like they need Thor back."

And he had never been more thankful for the armor's face plate and the voice modulator, because he had a feeling he was grinning widely, and it might have showed in his voice if JARVIS hadn't been there to make sure that didn't happen.

It seems they were home free. Loki was out of that poisonous place, and no one knew about it. This was quite possibly the best news Tony had received in ages.

Once he was sure he had his enthusiasm in check, he approached Sif and Thor. He lifted his faceplate and cleared his throat slightly. Thor turned toward him, his eyes already glinting with regret.

"My friend... I am required in Asgard posthaste."

"Yeah, I heard, Point Break. Don't worry about it. We understand."

That wasn't actually a lie. Tony did understand. In fact, in his opinion, it was long overdue. He could also see why Thor had felt the need to stay here—Asgard probably held too many painful memories for him. But Tony's priority in this was Loki—who'd been all alone on Asgard, pretending he was someone he wasn't, someone he hated. Enough was enough.

Of course, he couldn't tell Thor that. "Can you at least wait for a bit until the other Avengers arrive? They'd want to say goodbye, you know."

"Yes, of course, Man of Iron," Thor replied sedately. "I would not leave before I said farewell to my shield-brothers."

Sif didn't look very happy with that, but too bad for her. Just because he could and also because he wanted to piss her off, Tony squeezed Thor's shoulder. "We're gonna miss you, big guy. You take care and drop by anytime. I'm going to keep up a stock of Poptarts, just for you."

"Thank you," Thor answered. He looked a little shaky, and not for the first time, Tony wished things had been different. Thor might not be aware of everything he'd done wrong, but his grief at Loki's loss had been genuine.

Too bad that it was too little, too late.

The other Avengers didn't take long to show up. They walked up to Thor and Tony, with Steve in the lead. "So, you're going back to Asgard, Thor?"

Thor nodded. "I'm afraid so, Steven. My father has gone into the Odinsleep and I alone remain to take the throne."

Right, Tony wasn't touching that with a ten foot pole.

"Well, best of luck," Steve said, studiously ignoring every possible mentioning of Loki. "You'll be a great king. I know it."

"Thank you, Steven." Thor managed a small smile, before his expression went stern again. "My friends... Should Amora attack again, call to Heimdall and I will respond as soon as I can. Even if I am away, she remains my responsibility, and Asgard's."

Tony saluted. "Will do, Thor."

No one was really happy about Thor leaving now of all times, so the goodbye was stilted and awkward. Clint's blank face rivaled Natasha's. Still, nothing more was said about the shit Asgard had stirred on Earth. Too late to cry over spilled milk, after all.

Finally, the greetings and promises were done with, and the Earthgardian Avengers all took a few steps back, giving Thor room. The Bifrost struck, and in seconds, Thor and Sif were gone in a burst of rainbow-colored light.

Bruce shuffled to Tony's side. "Do you think we'll ever see him again?"

"Don't know, Brucey," Tony said. "We might. I guess it doesn't really depend on us, or on him."

Steve sighed. "Well, right now we have other problems. We can't be caught unawares by an attack again, especially not with Thor gone."

Tony didn't bother telling Steve that he, Nat and Clint had been away when Amora had stolen the axe. The knowledge was there, hanging over them like an ominous cloud. Besides, it wasn't like Tony could blame Steve for trying to find Barnes. After all, they were more than just Avengers—as evidenced by Tony's own priorities.

"Sure thing, Cap," he said, dropping his face plate. "But for now... Looks like we're done here. Meet you guys back at the Tower?"

He didn't wait for a reply. He'd never been particularly careful about other people's sensibilities, and that wasn't about to change anytime soon. If it did, it would just be suspicious.

He'd held back from contacting the yacht last night since JARVIS had reported Loki was sleeping, but now he couldn't help himself. He didn't have too much time at his disposal, but he still asked JARVIS to make the call.

"Anthony," Loki greeted him smoothly. "We were wondering when we were going to hear from you."

God, Loki was a sight for sore eyes. He was still pale, but looked better than he usually did when he came from Asgard. "Were you?" Tony asked with a grin. "You miss me, Lo?"

Loki huffed. "Do not fish for compliments, Midgardian." In other words, yes, but Loki wasn't exhausted enough to say it.

Tony smiled. "Thor's gone," he said. "Looks like your great escape went well."

"We can only hope," Amora offered, popping up in the image as she leaned against Loki's shoulder. "When can you fly in, my armorsmith?"

And wasn't it nice to know that they both wanted him there, even if they had each other now? Secretly, Tony had wondered about that, had feared that Loki wouldn't care about him now that Amora was back. The question—and the glint in Amora's eyes—did wonders for his confidence.

"As soon as I can," he admitted. "Cap's being wary since he expects another attack, but it's only a matter of time until something pops up on the Barnes front."

"We could create a diversion," Amora said. "Wouldn't be too difficult to plant a rumor."

It was very tempting, Tony had to admit. After all, Cap had followed unfounded rumors on the Winter Soldier before. But Tony didn't want to risk Loki and Amora exposing themselves. "Not just yet. I'll come up with an excuse, something to do in Malibu."

He landed on the platform of the tower and had JARVIS remove the armor. JARVIS brought up the conversation on the penthouse display. "Anyway, JARVIS will keep you posted, and we have protocols in place so you can come see me like before, when it's safe."

"We very much look forward to it, Anthony," Loki purred. "Tonight."

"Tonight," Amora repeated.

Tony smirked. "It's a date, Lo, Barbie."

He ended the call on that promising note. Soon, the Avengers would fly back in and he'd have to pretend to be upset with the rest of them. But all the deception was worth it—for this, for Loki and Amora and the unlikely thing they'd found together.


	12. Magic Lessons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, have some magic Tony! :) I know several readers have mentioned it. I hope you like what I did with it.  
> As always, thank you to everyone for you comments and kudos! You rock.

Unfortunately for Tony, finding an excuse to leave New York proved to be more challenging than expected. Cap was adamant that they be prepared for another attack from Amora. The amount of training sessions Tony had to go through would have been grueling had Loki not given him the Apple.

As it was, he admitted that the training would likely come in handy when Tony's new nemesis finally arrived and he went along with it. He also worked on perfecting the Iron Legion. He ran into a bit of a stalemate when it became obvious that the number of suits needed to take on Thanos's army would be far too great for JARVIS to coordinate. He'd need something else, another way to lead them, but so far, he hadn't come up with anything.

It was just as well that Loki and Amora made it their business to drop by on a regular basis. And yes, they did have sex—and a lot of it, but they also upheld the promise Amora had made him.

Magic lessons.

Once upon a time, shortly after Loki's supposed demise, Tony had managed the incredible performance of getting Thor drunk. Even at the time, he'd had questions, and Thor had been more than willing to answer. No one had really wanted to listen to Thor enthuse about Loki. Even Natasha had left. But Tony had stayed and he'd thus been told that Loki liked to use "tricks" in battle, but that didn't matter, because he'd been a great brother regardless.

None of Thor's explanation had really made sense to Tony since Thor had treated Loki's magic like something easy to do, whereas personally, Tony considered the brute force route far easier. He didn't realize how right he'd been that day until he actually began his attempt to understand it.

Tony and Loki were very much alike in some ways, but they were also different in every way that mattered when it came to magic lessons. Tony had a scientific mind, and he also needed constant stimulation, constant activity. The very first day they started the magic lessons, Loki asked him to throw the laws of physics out the window and stand still for an hour. Well meditate and commune with the universe or something like that. He threw around lines like "finding his center" and "aligning his inner core with the axis of Yggdrasil." Tony was unimpressed.

"You're kidding me."

"I never jest when it comes to magic," Loki said huffily.

Amora rolled her eyes. "Ignore him. He is very talented at seidr, but he is a horrible teacher."

Loki looked adorably offended, and it amused Tony so much that it temporarily distracted him from his predicament. That didn't take long, because Amora seemed to have decided to personally school him, and not in a kinky way.

She manhandled him to the bed and guided him to sit down cross-legged in the same pose he had seen her and Loki use. Once she was satisfied with his position, she said, "Now listen closely. Meditation is different for each individual person, and while Loki was accurate in his general description, it might be different for you. What you need to do is think of something that can draw your focus inward."

"I tend to not over-analyze myself too much," Tony replied hesitantly. "And I'm not very good at focusing."

"Don't be ridiculous," Loki replied. "You forget, we've seen you work. The detail in the Iron Man armor is not unlike the accuracy required for spellwork."

"Also, you're your own worst critic," Amora piped up. "Just relax. Think of it this way. No one here is going to judge you. Loki and I hardly have room to throw stones."

She was right, and it was part of the reason why they got along. Loki and Amora weren't perfect. They were broken, just like he was.

When he was with the other Avengers, Tony often felt the burden of his legacy as the Merchant of Death. Granted, each and every member of the team had a kill count. Hell, Natasha—and probably Clint—had been assassins. God only knew how many deaths the Hulk's rampages had caused. Thor was about as old as dirt, and from the stories Tony had heard, he'd spilled more blood than the entire team put together. And Cap had been a soldier, and for all that he fought with a shield, that didn't make him any less lethal.

Even so, Tony couldn't help but feel like they judged him. Maybe it stemmed from Natasha's assessment ( _Iron Man recommended, Tony Stark not recommended_ ), or Bruce's general aloofness or Steve's overall... goodness. In any case, when he was with them, Tony never felt... right.

He wasn't right, or enough, for Loki and Amora either—but at least they couldn't point fingers when their own mistakes had been so massive.

The intimacy between the three of them certainly didn't hurt. For good or ill, they were in this together, and they hadn't ditched him, so he had to be doing something right.

Still, it took Tony quite some time to get into the right mindset. In the end, Amora sat behind him and Loki in front of him. Loki's hands hovered over Tony's own extended ones, and Amora's fingers rubbed over the back of his spine.

Somehow, it wasn't sexual. Amora kept talking, guiding Tony, helping him along. Loki spoke too, and for all that Amora had said he was a bad teacher, he actually turned out to be incredibly patient. And Tony had no idea how it happened, but slowly, he began to sink into himself.

When he finally got it right, his meditation mental state or his core or what-the-fuck-ever wasn't smooth, like Amora's honeyed voice, nor dagger-sharp, like the edges in Loki's, and the jut of his cheekbones. It was, plainly put, code.

Tony knew code. He'd created JARVIS from the very first line of HTML, and secretly, JARVIS was still his favorite invention, surpassing even the armor.

Looking at himself in code was the natural next step. It was different, certainly, but once he figured out the method, Tony got a hang of it fairly quickly. Numbers and lines flew in his mind's eye, and suddenly, he could see it. He could see the alterations of his code, where the DNA had been updated after the Apple. He could see the newer additions, like a patch added to Tony 1.0. Well, actually, Tony supposed that his pre-Apple version would be Tony 4.0—considering pre-Afghanistan as 1.0., post-reactor 2.0 and 3.0, depending on what reactor was used. So, Tony 5.0 it was, and the difference was massive.

The potential had always been there, Tony could tell. Humans and Aesir weren't that different—the change had been mostly in terms of muscle and bone density. But had Tony not received the Apple, it was unlikely he'd have ever found any sort of application for the energy inside him. The Apple unlocked that potential—much like the serum had for Cap, which was an eerie thought to have, but nonetheless true.

He didn't know how long it took, but finally he had it all streamlined and smooth—well, as much as could be expected at least. Amora and Loki's voices were more hushed now, but their presence slid into Tony's mind, foreign code that nonetheless didn't feel invasive.

"That's it, Anthony," Loki murmured. "Good. Now, the same way you see yourself, you must see reality."

Well, that made sense. If Tony was in code, why not everything else?

He opened his eyes, and he could see it, he could see the lines he needed to tweak. He might have even managed to, but he was unfortunately staring straight at Loki. His breath caught at the complexity and beauty of Loki's code. There were interrupted lines in the code, where a program had been executed poorly, and there were countless firewalls, shields to keep the world at bay. Nonetheless, it was beautiful, and Tony couldn't move, lest he ruin something with his clumsiness. He stared at their hands and he could see the lines of power crackling between them, like something out of the Matrix.

Tony turned slightly to look at Amora too. Amora's code was, of course, different, although it did have similarities with Loki's. In fact, on occasion, Tony could see a clear connection between the two codes, a way they intersected. And weirdly enough, he could see another connection, with a different code—with his own.

There were other relationships, other codes that stood out, but theirs was the strongest. It floored Tony to see it like that, so obvious, in equations that could not lie. In fact, it floored him so much that it threw him straight out of his mind space.

He fell back against Amora, but fortunately, she was stronger than she looked—being Asgardian and all—and he didn't crush her or anything. "Are you all right, Anthony?" she asked as he blinked at the ceiling.

"Fine," Tony replied a little shakily. "Sorry, I..."

"No, don't apologize." Amora's fingers combed through his hair. "That was remarkable, my armorsmith. My shiny boy."

Loki nodded. "It takes a seidr user a long time to get accustomed to this practice. It will come to you naturally, but it is still a great achievement that you succeeded in finding your focus on our first session."

Tony perked up a little. "Really?"

He hated that he sounded like a little boy desperate for approval, but his tutors didn't seem to mind. In fact, they took it in stride. "Oh, yes," Amora offered. "Do you remember your first attempt, Loki?"

Loki rolled his eyes at her. "Not that again. It was absolutely not my fault that the curtains caught fire."

Amora's only reply was a snicker. Tony sort of wanted to ask what their focus had been and how they'd managed to learn, but he decided against it. Instead, he, Loki and Amora sat back on the bed, with Tony in the middle.

There was something peaceful and beautiful about just lying down like this, together, enjoying each other's proximity without any other purpose. Tony had never had much of that. When he was physically close to a person, it tended to be for very specific reasons. Platonic closeness had always been rare, since it required a dose of trust that Tony hadn't shared with many people.

He'd had it once with Pepper and to a certain extent, Rhodey, but it had been too much for them. _He_ had been too much. It had been obvious from the very beginning, if only Tony had known to look harder. Rhodey's disgruntlement with his decision to stop making weapons. Pepper's "are those bullet holes?" Rhodey's refusal to listen to him. Pepper's reaction to him asking her to replace the reactor.

He'd demanded too much of them. No wonder his relationship with Pepper had crashed and burned.

But with Loki and Amora he could be himself. They saw him, and they were unafraid. He wasn't their burden. He was their partner.

He supposed that it made sense he'd have to look outside Earth to find that. He was Tony Stark. Naturally, no one on the planet could withstand him. But when he was there, sandwiched between two Asgardian magic users, he realized it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

It couldn't last—he knew it couldn't last. But he still hated it when JARVIS's voice interrupted the pleasant moment. "Sir, Ms. Potts is approaching."

Tony cursed as he got up. "What? Why? What is she doing here?"

He had given JARVIS specific instructions to not let anyone in. Ever since Loki had become a fixture in his life, being careful about his privacy had become a priority. The Avengers didn't really question it, and they had their own need for privacy, so it worked out well enough.

Pepper hadn't been much of an issue since for the most part, she'd stayed in LA, to give him space to get over the breakup.

"I am uncertain, Sir," JARVIS replied. "I have been monitoring Ms. Potts, but there seems to be no particular item of interest that could have drawn her attention."

"I suppose that is our cue to disappear," Amora offered. She slid out of bed and caressed Tony's cheek with one slim finger. "Be careful, my armorsmith."

"We won't go far," Loki promised.

That did make Tony feel a little better, but he would have still preferred to go back to what they'd been doing before. He sighed as Loki and Amora disappeared. Maybe if he dealt with whatever problem Pepper had, they could actually return to the magic lessons. Or the cuddling. The cuddling had been nice—although he'd rather be caught dead than admit it.

Unfortunately, it seemed that achieving his goal would be nowhere near as easy as he'd have liked. The moment Pepper walked into the penthouse, it became obvious that she was on the warpath.

"I thought you were done with this sort of thing, Tony," she said without preamble.

Tony blinked at her. "Thing?" he repeated. The actual thing he had going on was sleeping with two magic-wielding aliens and supposed supervillains—at the same time no less—and he was pretty sure he'd never done that before. Threesomes, yes? Magic suppervillain-y threesomes? Nope, not so much.

Pepper didn't seem impressed with his defense. "This self-destructive thing you're doing," she elaborated.

"I actually literally have no idea what you're talking about."

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him. "Natasha told me you're not eating. You're barely around and you spend most of your time in the labs or in the penthouse. The last time you did that, you were dying!"

Tony suppressed a flinch. So apparently he hadn't been as smooth in his avoidance of the Avengers as he'd thought.

To be fair, this was Natasha. Of course she'd noticed something wasn't right. The good news is that she didn't know what it was. If she'd suspected Loki and Amora were in any way involved, she never would have spoken to Pepper about it.

"Pepper, I'm fine."

"Really?" Pepper looked unconvinced. "That's what you said last time."

"I did try to tell you last time. Made you an omelet and everything." Pepper's disbelieving glance had him crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "What are you even doing talking to Natasha? Stabby spy, remember?"

"Also your teammate, and someone who can actually be trusted to tell me the truth about you, since JARVIS obviously won't, and everyone else is useless."

Right. Natasha could be trusted. Tony was getting a headache just thinking about everything that was wrong with that statement. Pepper wasn't wrong, in that Natasha could read him better than the other Avengers. But if Pepper thought Natasha could be relied on to provide information, she had another think coming.

Sadly, this couldn't have been prevented. Tony couldn't do things any differently. No, he didn't eat with the Avengers, but that was because his appetite had grown significantly, and he knew that they would notice the change. It was far more likely of the old him to skip meals rather than suddenly decide to go on an eating binge that rivaled Cap's.

Obviously, having Loki and Amora around meant he wanted to spend time with them. And there was the Legion and Thanos, and that was not even considering everything else he had on his plate.

Tony allowed a little of his fatigue to show. "What do you want me to tell you, Pep?"

"The truth," Pepper snapped at him.

Yeah, that wasn't going to happen, but he could at least give her some bits and pieces. "You know the truth," he said. "You saw it, okay? That's why you left."

Because really, what had she expected, that he'd magically forget about his nightmares just because she wasn't there to witness them anymore? "Things aren't getting any easier, Pep. Thor's gone, and now there's another player in the game. I have to be ready. I have to make sure what happened then doesn't happen again."

It was true, although he wasn't referring solely to the Manhattan invasion. It was everything that had led up to that, all the mess in Asgard, all the suffering Loki had been through.

Pepper didn't know that, of course. Her expression still softened. "Oh, Tony. You don't have to do everything yourself."

"I have to do everything I can do," he replied. "But for the record, I am eating. Tell her, JARV."

"Sir has indeed eaten with reasonable regularity in the recent period. His last meal was only a few hours ago."

Pepper's shoulders slumped. "All right. I suppose you do look okay."

"Gee thanks."

Silence fell between them. It was awkward, in a way it had never been before they'd started dating, or rather, before Iron Man.

"You should talk to the others," Pepper said at last. "They're worried."

"I didn't think you even liked the Avengers."

"At least with them around, you have someone to watch your back." She didn't say that she couldn't do it, but it didn't matter, because he still heard it.

Weirdly, he found that it didn't hurt anymore. Pepper did help him with Stark Industries, and that was as much as he could expect of her. She was worried about him, so she still cared. They might never go back to their comfortable relationship from before, but it was okay. Tony had too many secrets now, too many things he was hiding, to involve her in that mess. She'd already paid the price once, in that whole debacle with Killian. Never again.

"I'm pretty lucky," he belatedly offered. "I have a lot of people in my life to keep an eye on me. Really, Pep, I'm fine."

Pepper let out a heavy breath. "If you say so. You know, I miss the days when my biggest problem was the latest scandal and the latest paternity claim."

"See, that right there—it shows, I'm actually always careful. Never got one of those women pregnant."

Even as he said the words, it belatedly occurred to Tony that he, Loki and Amora had never used protection. In all honesty, it hadn't been an issue between him and Loki and Amora had just sort of popped in and he'd completely forgotten.

He supposed Amora must have some nifty spell that kept her from getting pregnant, but he really would have to ask. If there had ever been a bad time to have a kid, it was now.

Fortunately, he somehow managed to keep it together until Pepper left, but the thought never abandoned him. It was just as well that, as soon as JARVIS reported Pepper was at a safe distance, Loki and Amora appeared again.

Amora attached herself to Tony's side and refused to be removed. "Uh, Barbie... Everything okay?"

"Of course," Amora said. "I simply don't like to share—with anyone else except Loki."

Loki concurred with Amora's assessment. And so it was that Tony was manhandled back to bed by two apparently very jealous magic users. And Tony forgot all about whatever he'd wanted to ask, losing every single thought he'd had in the taste of heated kisses and the feel of talented hands on his skin.

Jealous magic users apparently made for a happy Tony Stark. Good to know.


	13. Past, Present and Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In celebration of the Doctor Strange trailer, a new chapter for you! I hope you like it. As always, thank you for the kudos, comments and suggestions!

It was incredibly easy to fall back into a relationship with Loki. For all that they'd had a lot of experiences since they'd parted ways—most of them not positive—the core of their bond remained, and Loki slid back into place in Amora's life as if he'd never been gone.

Amora supposed that wasn't necessarily surprising. In fact, more often than not, she found herself wondering how she could have ever given him up to pursue Thor of all people. She and the Thunderer were a horrible match—she could see that now. Even her love spells couldn't have changed that.

Anthony, on the other hand, fit with both her and Loki just right. He was like the final piece of their puzzle, finally sliding into place, completing them.

For the first time, Amora experienced something akin to contentment. She awoke to meditation with Loki, had breakfast with him and Skurge on the yacht. Often, she would watch Skurge and Loki spar, and she made no secret of how her body responded to that.

If JARVIS indicated their armormsith was free, they would travel to his tower and teach him magic and pull him in closer, always closer.

But that happiness was an illusion. Secretly, what Amora wanted was to take Loki, Skurge and Anthony and run away to Alfheim. She knew it would never work. Loki desired vengeance on Thanos, but beyond that, the Titan was a danger for the entire Tree. In the end, if they didn't take a stand, Thanos would bring death to every single realm. Not to mention that Anthony could not live without his technology, without his familiar and his particular brand of seidr.

Trying to relocate him to a realm with no technology akin to his own would be like ripping away the seidr of a sorcerer, which, given the way Anthony was learning magic, was not an inaccurate analogy.

And so, they stayed on Midgard and they made plans and preparations. Anthony worked on his suits. Amora and Skurge helped Loki recover from the wound he'd earned from the battle with Kurse. It would never truly be gone—the damage had been too great and the poison from Kurse's blood had left a trace that not even seidr could heal. But that didn't mean Amora couldn't try.

They also spoke to Karnilla and spied on Thor and tracked down information on the Titan and on the Stones.

A few weeks after Loki's departure from Asgard, news came in of the shield-brother of Steven Rogers being active once again. The man out of time left, as Anthony had anticipated, and so did the widow and the archer.

Two hours later, Anthony landed on the yacht. He had insisted to fly here in the suit, to keep up appearances.

It was there that Loki finally brought up the topic that had been weighing on all of their minds. The Stones.

The four of them gathered inside the yacht, around a table. Loki waved a hand, summoning an illusion of the items in question.

"The Infinity Stones. As I said before, they are the most powerful artifacts in existence. Currently, we possess two—the Mind Gem which Amora has, and the Aether which I have secreted away. The Space Stone—also known as the Tesseract—is with Heimdall and can be acquired if needed. I have recently learned that Thanos has made a bid for the Power Gem, but he was foiled, and it is currently held by the Nova Corps."

Loki brought up all the data on the screen, and Anthony grimaced. "That doesn't look like a very safe location for the Power Gem."

"Indeed, it is not," Loki confirmed. "Asgard believes that I sent the Aether to the Tanaleer Tivan, the Collector, but he would have been a risky choice as well. The Power Stone is in fact easily accessible to Thanos, although he cannot reach it yet. His forces are still recovering, and he believes most of his opposition futile to prevent his next bid for the Stone."

"What about the missing stones? Soul and Time?"

"I have been unable to locate them yet, but I have my suspicions. A sorcerer called Doctor Strange has displayed increased activity on Midgard. His shields are good, but I managed to sneak a few glimpses of him from Asgard, and again from here. But we must be careful, because if he does own one of the Stones, he is more dangerous than he seems."

"So what Stone would he have?"

"We're uncertain right now," Amora offered. "The only way to find out is to seek him out."

Anthony didn't look displeased at the fact that Loki had waited so long to tell him about it. Perhaps he understood Loki better than he and Amora had both expected. "Okay, Doctor Strange. Stephen Strange, right? I think he was on the Hydra database of potential threats to be dealt with. I actually cross-referenced him at the time, didn't I, Jay?"

"Indeed, Sir. Doctor Strange is registered as a former surgeon who suffered a serious accident that kept him from continuing with his practice. He departed for Tibet and has since been a reclusive figure. The extent of his abilities is unlisted, but SHIELD and Hydra assessments indicate he might have acquired certain skills or techniques from the Tibetan monks."

"Of course he did. Well then, if Hydra marked him as a threat, he might be a good guy, so we have to be extra careful with him."

Amora nodded. When Thanos actually struck out at Midgard, they would need all the help they could get and they couldn't afford burning anymore bridges than they already had.

"What else? Anything from Asgard?"

Loki shook his head. "Both Amora and I have traveled to the Golden Realm. Thor is... trudging along. Leadership comes easy to him in battle, but politics isn't as straightforward. But the people of Asgard know he's going to be the next king, so they're helping him learn."

"That's as good as we can expect, I suppose."

"His clumsiness is not a bad thing," Amora said. "I believe he originally intended to send the Warriors Three to Midgard to make sure the Avengers were safe, but it then became obvious that he needed his cronies there."

Anthony shuddered. "Let's hope our luck holds on that front. So far, the only Asgardians I like are you two."

And that was exactly how Amora wanted to keep it. She found that she was increasingly possessive of both Anthony and Loki, and any obstacle in her path was an irritant she couldn't accept. Like the woman Potts. She and Anthony were no longer involved, but Anthony still cared about her. Amora could understand that—her own affections toward Skurge were similar, if not sexual—but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"It's good to hear," she told Anthony.

Just because she could, Amora teleported from her seat and into Anthony's lap. "Very good to hear."

Anthony's lips curled into a small, but wicked smile. His hands landed on her hips and his eyes glinted with mischief. He didn't address her presence, though, other than simply holding her. "How risky do you think it would be if I went and spoke to Strange myself?"

A muscle in Loki's jaw twitched. "I don't think that's a very good idea. It's too dangerous."

Anthony narrowed his eyes. "You do realize I can protect myself just fine, Loki."

Oh dear. Clearly Anthony felt slighted by Loki's perceived distrust in him. In some ways, men were all alike in every single realm Amora had visited.

The thing was, both of them had a point. This was dangerous, perhaps more so than Anthony realized. It was also most likely the best option.

"It is true that your Avenger status should make him listen, my armorsmith," she said, "but you cannot make light of the power he wields. It would be unwise to underestimate our opponent, no matter how aware we are of our own abilities."

Loki nodded. "Furthermore, assuming we send you in to speak to him, we may lose contact, depending on what kind of wards he has around his home. We can naturally place protections on you, but they'll have to be subtle, like the shields that kept Amora's spell from affecting you."

The warning seemed to make Anthony's hostility deflate. "I'll wear the armor. The reactor does help to block magic, up to a point, and the new additions can blindside him. Would that work?"

"Perhaps, but you still need to be careful and be ready for an attack. If he has the Stones, chances are our wards won't be able to do much. And there is the risk that he might notice the touch of our magic on you, in which case it can all explode in our faces quite significantly."

Sadly, that wasn't something they could control. The fact that Loki had given him the Apple had already altered Anthony's human body significantly. The magic lessons, while necessary, had done the same, and all the time they'd spent together left traces.

"It depends on how close he looks and how experienced he is in reading other people's magic," she explained. "I only sensed Loki's wards on you when I touched you, but I wasn't actively looking. If he does look..."

"Yeah, I get it. The shit will hit the fan. But to be honest, Barbie, I don't see any other solution. If we don't at least try to get this guy on our side, I know I'm going to regret it later."

"Fair enough, but we will make sure we can track you when you go inside," Loki decreed.

Thankfully, Anthony decided not to press Loki further. He could probably tell Loki was tense just at the idea of Anthony delving into danger like that. He and Amora shared a look, and then Anthony offered, "Okay. So we done with business for the day?"

"Maybe just for now," Loki replied, the tension in his stance melting away slightly. "You've only just arrived, after all. You need to enjoy the day."

It was ironic that Loki of all people would say that, but Amora understood his reasoning. They were both very aware that they were running on borrowed time. Chances were that at least one of them might not survive the battle with Thanos. Even if they did win—which was, again, dubious.

Having the Stones would give them a huge advantage, but they were not easy to wield and could easily consume the wearer. Amora could build another receptacle for the Mind Gem, one aligned to her seidr, but the only conduit that could truly channel the powers of the Stones properly was the Infinity Gauntlet, and that was a burden few could bear.

And clearly Loki didn't want to think about Anthony going off into danger. Not that Amora could blame him. A part of her wanted to just track down the sorcerer on her own and coax every drop of information out of him. But Anthony was right and they could not deny the necessity for new allies.

At any rate, Amora didn't want to think about that either, so instead, she leaned in closer to Anthony. At first, it seemed like he intended to kiss her, but then, he suddenly pulled back, looking sheepish.

"Ah, I just remembered something I needed to ask. Shit, I really don't know how to say this. It just occurred to me the other day and I completely forgot."

He seemed very uncomfortable, and he threw a glance toward the still silent Skurge. Obviously, whatever he wanted to ask was personal.

"Ask, Anthony. I have not secrets from Skurge."

To his credit, Anthony didn't seem particularly surprised. He had grown to accept the relationship between Amora and Skurge, although he had not spent as much time with her executioner as Loki had.

"So... Remember the day I saw Pepper and she mentioned my paternity scandals?" Amora arched a brow, not particularly impressed by the mentioning of the Potts woman. Anthony went on quickly before she could show her displeasure. "I was only wondering... We're not risking anything with this? I mean... Having little Lokis and Tonys running around?"

Oh. Children. Amora blinked in surprise. The idea of children hadn't occurred to her in ages, since shortly after she'd left Asgard.

"No, Anthony. I am very careful and there are numerous means for a magic user to prevent pregnancy. Additionally, Asgardians aren't very fertile. A side effect of the Golden Apples, I believe. It increases lifespan, but makes it more difficult to conceive."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

Amora arched a brow at Loki, who just shrugged. "It didn't seem like it would be an issue."

Also, he had probably feared that it would be a deal breaker for Anthony and he would refuse the Apple if he found out it came with caveats.

Anthony obviously noticed Loki's wariness. "Relax, Lo. I'm not angry. Yeah, you should have told me—and for the record, I expect to be told things in the future, but quite frankly, even without the Apple, chances were I'd never have a kid. The arc reactor poisoning kind of took care of that. I just assumed that problem was fixed due to Asgardian medical care."

"So you do want children?"

She only felt Anthony's tension because she was so close to him. Obviously he hadn't expected the conversation to go in this direction. "I don't know. Do you?"

Normally, Amora would have sidestepped the question, but something about this whole conversation kept her from lying. "I did. Once. In Asgard, most women expect they would have children eventually, unless they are barren. I did have other priorities when I was young, but the idea of having children in the future did appeal. At one time, I believed they would be Loki's." And then, she had believed they would be Thor, but she didn't want to say that. It was, and likely would always be, a sore subject between them.

She didn't want to make things awkward again, but Anthony had asked—and it was fair for him to know. After all, this relationship was unusual, and both she and Loki had taken some liberties with Anthony's person. Anthony deserved this much at least.

For a few moments, nothing happened in particular, and it seemed like the revelation would have no real consequences. Anthony just nodded. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but then, he glanced past Amora's shoulder, at Loki. Amora followed his gaze, only to see Loki had turned pasty. "Loki? What is it?"

"If we'd had children... They would've been half-Jotnar."

Amora didn't understand where Loki was going with this, but it was obviously important, since Loki didn't like talking about his Jotnar legacy. Yes, all of those present knew—even Skurge—but that didn't mean Loki felt comfortable with it. She did her best to take it in stride. "I suppose they would have been, yes. Does it matter?"

"It would have mattered to Odin," Loki said glumly.

Anthony made a noise of realization. "Oh. Your dad wouldn't have been able to hide that, would he? You'd have figured out the truth."

Suddenly, all the pieces of the puzzle slid into place, and Amora remembered. She remembered all the times people had stared and laughed at her. She remembered the way other women had turned away from her, calling her a harlot because of her relationship with Loki.

It had never made sense to her, even at that time. Yes, women were encouraged to remain untouched until marriage, but it wasn't an actual rule. Even among the nobility, few people adhered to it. Certain people were more keen on tradition than others, but courtship among the Aesir took a long time, and it was highly unlikely that youths wouldn't at least explore. And seidr users in particular were known for being tempestuous, so it wasn't like her temperament had been particularly surprising. At most, she might have expected a level of disapproval—but nothing like what had actually happened, especially since she and Loki had a serious relationship.

Thor had bedded a different wench every night and none of them had been treated the way Amora had. Come to think of it, even the sex workers in brothels received more respect.

But now, things began to make sense. Of course the All-Father would want to prevent the relationship between Loki and Amora from becoming even more serious, from turning into marriage. When had the seed of Amora's desire for becoming queen been planted? She couldn't remember anymore, couldn't recall what had made her think it would be a good idea to pursue Thor instead, even if she had to sacrifice Loki's affection to do it.

Odin would have known Thor had no interest in her. Whether he had anticipated Amora's extreme reaction to the rejection was anyone's guess, but everyone in Asgard was aware that she was stubborn. Determination was simply a requirement for the study of seidr, and it usually translated in other fields of the seidr-user's life. He must have at least suspected that she wouldn't drop it, that her stubbornness would drive a serious wedge between her and Loki.

She stumbled out of Anthony's lap, wanting nothing more than to teleport away, to seek some privacy, but at the same time, reluctant to leave them. Anthony got up and reached for her. "Barbie..."

"I played right into his hands. I can't believe this. I was so stupid."

"No, Amora, don't," Loki said, already making his way to her side. "You were not stupid. You were young, and so was I. I did not see the All-Father for what he was until well into my adult years. What does that say about me?"

"It's different." Amora took a few deep breaths, struggling to control her helpless fury, her panic. "He was your father. You wanted to believe him. I shouldn't have made that mistake."

"You were only trying to protect yourself," Loki insisted. "I don't blame you, Amora. I did once, but that was a long time ago."

It was true, Amora knew that much. But that was because of Loki himself, because he didn't truly believe himself worthy of genuine affection, not like his golden brother who so easily received everything he wanted. Oh, it was so obvious now, so easy to realize what had been Odin's game.

"It's still my fault," she decided. It would be comfortable to blame Odin for what she had done, but at the end of the day, it had still been her who hadn't been strong enough, who'd chosen to betray Loki. "You should blame me, because it was my fault."

Anthony looked between her and Loki, and for all that he was a genius, he didn't have a lot of the background information. He'd probably guessed at least bits and pieces from what he'd been told, but they hadn't actually discussed it in detail, not before now.

"When Loki and I were young, we were best friends, and as long as that was the case, our relationship didn't draw too much attention. But once we started our sexual relationship, I noticed a severe turn in Asgard's attitude toward me. Anything from merchants leering at me when I went to the market and warriors making lewd comments and even servant girls giving me disdainful looks."

Her voice didn't come out as strong as she'd have liked, and Anthony looked alarmed. "You don't have to tell me about it."

"No, I want to. I want you to hear it. I think we all need to hear it."

For all her words, she couldn't really look at them, so instead, they ended up on the deck, with Amora leaning against the banister and staring at the waves while the men awkwardly stood nearby. "I didn't really care at first. It was worth it, for what Loki and I had. But as time passed... It wore on me. And that was when I got the idea to seduce Thor. If I was queen, no one would dare to scorn me. And Thor and Loki were very close then. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that they'd agree to share me."

She smiled bitterly. "Yes, I was selfish. Yes, I was unrealistic. But I see that I also played into the All-Father's scheme. He must have encouraged Asgard to treat me like that, otherwise they'd have never dared. If nothing else, they'd have feared my seidr." Certain people had been the victims of her outbursts, but it had not dissuaded others in the slightest, which should have really given her a clue that something wasn't right. "I do wonder now if all that time, when Loki and I were together, the All-Father was watching, plotting against us."

"That's fucking creepy," Anthony said from behind her. His arms came around her waist, tentative, without trapping her. It felt nice—he was warm and solid and so different. He shattered the memories that haunted her mind.

"Yes, yes it is," she said. "But we won't allow any of it anymore. We won't be separated. Never again."

She turned in Anthony's embrace and offered him a small smile. Loki took this as a cue to approach her as well. "Never again," he repeated. "We're stronger now. We know better."

"And it's not too late." Anthony grinned. "Once this is all over, you can still have that—what you wanted then. Maybe little Amora-Loki babies."

Amora poked him in the side, deciding now was as good a time as any to address this. "Don't be stupid. If we do have children, they'd belong to the three of us."

Anthony blinked at her, obviously surprised. "Right. Of course they would."

He probably still didn't get it—their lessons in seidr had made progress, but he still didn't quite understand everything seidr could do, since he was fundamentally a Midgardian scientist. Amora would have explained, but then, he said, "So Loki and I can be the dads, and Ken can be the grumpy uncle who's stuck babysitting."

"You say that like I would resent it," Skurge piped up. "It would be my greatest pleasure to care for the Enchantress's offspring."

As a rule, Skurge was quiet when Anthony and Loki were around, so Anthony gaped at him. He then burst into laughter, and it shattered the remaining tension between them. "You know what, Ken?" Anthony said between chuckles. "You're all right."

Amora shook her head at his antics and shared a look with Loki. Loki smiled and slid next to her, and in their three-way embrace, under the watch of these men who against all odds, genuinely cared about her, Amora began to hope that maybe Anthony was right.

Maybe they would have a chance to start again. Maybe they would get a new beginning. Maybe, just maybe, they would have an "after all this was over"—together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much Doc Strange in this chapter, I know, but he'll probably show up in the next one or the one after that :D


	14. The Sorcerer Supreme

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Promised update of The Most Destructive Emotion! The main source of my material regarding Doc Strange is naturally the cartoons, but I did use some stuff from the new trailer, as you will probably realize. I'm also taking some significant liberties here, but it's not like that's a huge surprise :P  
> Hope you like the chapter! As always, comments and kudos means you rock!

As luck would have, Doctor Stephen Strange's address was not that difficult to find. He lived in Greenwhich Village of all things, and even if Loki and Amora hadn't already tracked him down here, Tony would have been able to find him in like a second. Hell, anyone with a phone book would probably have little trouble tracking him down.

His home was a three story townhouse that didn't look like anything particularly eccentric. But Tony's brand new magic senses started screaming the moment he got within view. The code almost blinded him, the lines around the mansion so complex they were practically unintelligible.

In hindsight, Tony should have anticipated this, since Amora and Loki had warned him this guy might be more than he seemed. But he wouldn't have been Tony Stark if he'd let that stop him.

He landed outside the gates, not bothering to hide—not that he could have in the flashy red and gold suit. He'd decided to keep the Stealth one a secret, just in case this thing with Amora and Loki blew up in his face—which was liable to happen sooner or later.

But Tony would worry about that when the moment came. Right now, he had other priorities, such as a certain Sorcerer Supreme.

"So, it looks like you were right and our guy's got some heavy mojo," he told Amora and Loki. "Gives me a headache just looking at his house."

"Be careful, Anthony," Loki said through the communicators. "If it seems like he suspects, get out of there."

"Will do, Reindeer Games."

They were being careful, and really, that was the only thing they could do under these circumstances. Tony was still as convinced as ever that Steven Strange could prove to be a useful ally. The only problem was that they didn't know if he'd be willing to help once he found out who Tony was working with.

Well, it looked like Tony was about to figure out the answer. The mansion gates opened with an ominous creak straight out of the Adams family. Tony took the invitation. Technically speaking he could have flown over the gates from the very beginning, but he didn't want to risk pissing Strange off. But since he'd been let in now... Well, he could only hope for the best.

"Wish me luck," he mumbled into the communicators.

Just like the gates, the doors of the mansion opened seemingly of their own accord. As it turned out, this time around, there was an actual person responsible for it.

An Asian man greeted Tony at the entrance of the mansion. Their surveillance indicated that this was Wong, Strange's assistant-cum-butler.

"Good evening, Mr. Stark, and welcome. Master Stephen is expecting you."

Tony had the urge to call the dude Lurch, but he had a thing about respecting butlers. So, he just nodded, wished he remembered if the Chinese did something in particular when answering a greeting and said, "Thanks. And expecting me?"

"Quite," a different voice replied.

Tony had seen photos of Stephen Strange and had actually had a few laughs over the similarity between the two of them—in terms of facial hair at least. The similarities ended there, and yet again, Tony felt profoundly grateful that he was wearing the armor. The code swirling around Steven Strange was so strong it made him blink furiously as he adjusted. It didn't help that Strange was wearing a sort of all-white ensemble that seemed to shine eerily when coupled with the code.

It wasn't that Wong's code lacked magic. There were distinctive traces of mysticism in the man, things people like, for example Clint or Natasha, most definitely lacked. But Strange was on a whole different level. It was fortunate that Tony was used to having Asgardians around, because otherwise, he'd have been in trouble.

He lifted the face plate and shot Strange a smirk. "You gotta tell me, am I losing my touch here? I genuinely thought I was being discrete."

"Oh, you were, but the Eye of Agamotto sees all."

O-kay then. That was suitably ominous. Tony very carefully didn't panic. For the moment, he couldn't be sure if "all" included "Norse gods with a propensity for mischief and/or mind control spells".

"So then you must know why I'm here then," he said.

"I'm afraid in that regard I must disappoint," Strange said. "I do not know what you mean. But please, come in. Make yourself comfortable. You need not wear the armor while here. My home is well guarded."

Tony smiled, and hoped it didn't look as tight as it felt. _Come into my lair, said the spider to the fly._ "Appreciate it."

It would have been weird if he refused to take off the armor. He had actually considered telling Strange the model he was wearing wasn't removable without the equipment at the Tower, but that wouldn't make sense, since Tony Stark wouldn't make a courtesy visit to a prospective friend's home in an armor he couldn't take off.

So, he had to play along.

He removed the armor, turning it into a briefcase. To his credit, Strange didn't offer to take it. "This way, please."

Strange led him to a living room full of paintings and statuettes that would have probably appealed to Pepper a great deal. Wong brought them tea in some small cups that almost looked like shot glasses. Once Wong was gone, Tony considered his approach. He needed to play his cards right and be careful, because if he went too high on the bullshit scale, Strange would suss him out.

"It's true, I did look you up. I found you intriguing when you drew all the wrong attention when it comes to Hydra. And there are rumors that you deal with... magic?"

"I have certain unique talents, yes. I did not expect a scientist such as yourself to be interested in my area of expertise."

"I don't know about that." Tony smiled. "You're a doctor too. The two fields don't have to be mutually exclusive, right?"

Strange didn't reply. He just pinned Tony with those deep, dark eyes. Lines of intricate magical code ran through his iris. Tony didn't look away. Loki's eyes were far more striking. Between him and Amora, he was pretty much immune.

"What is that you seek here, Mr. Stark? I'm not an Avenger, and I have no interest in being one."

"Yeah, see, that's what I thought. Not a team player myself, but sometimes, you gotta be." He shrugged. "Anyway, I'm not here to give you a pep talk. I'll leave that to Cap. What I want to ask is something different. What do you know about the gem that was in Loki's scepter?"

His voice didn't falter, didn't shake. It was a simple question that could have been explained by his interest in finding the damn thing after Amora had supposedly stolen it. From there, if Strange proved amenable, he could bring up the other gem, the one they really wanted to find.

It backfired—badly.

Tony had been reaching for his cup of tea, and he froze mid-motion. It would have been funny if it hadn't happened to him. As it was, he ended up sort of bent over the damn tray, hand extended awkwardly, his body not quite in a crouch, but pretty close.

"I don't know who you are, but you made a grave mistake coming here. Others might be blind to what you've done, but I am not."

Tony mentally sighed. So it was going to be like that then. He'd gone through various versions of the famous threatening speech, and maybe he was biased, but none of them had quite the same flair as Loki's.

Also, Loki had a way of making even the most classical villainous speech sound sexy. It was a thing. Maybe it was the fact that none of the other villains looked so good in leather. Something to be noted.

Shaking himself, Tony focused on his current predicament. "What I've done?" he repeated. "And what exactly have I done—other than, you know, saving the world? Several times."

"Tony Stark saved the world. I've seen Tony Stark before, and you are not him."

Tony was torn between pleased surprise at the acknowledgment of his heroics and dismay at the latter comment. "News to me. I'd think I would know if I wasn't... you know, myself."

As he spoke, Tony sought out the code of the spell that kept him bound. He'd never been more thankful for his ability to talk and talk without saying anything in specific—because it distracted Strange from what Tony was actually doing.

The spell wasn't something Tony was familiar with, but courtesy of the nifty wards Amora and Loki had placed on him, it hadn't quite managed to tighten around him all the way. Thus, it was pretty easy to find the enchantment's weak spot and simply push. It was inelegant and he flinched at the backlash—but so did Strange. Tony shook his head, trying to clear it as he straightened his back. "You know, Doc, that wasn't very welcoming. And here I was, paying you a nice visit and everything. But you should know..."

Strange shot an honest to God bolt of magic at him. It was a little weird, because he held his hand in a very specific way and it made the code around his fingertips spin so fast it took Tony aback. But Tony wasn't going to take that lying down. He reached for his armor—only to find it snatched straight out of his grasp by Wong.

If there was anything Tony hated, it was people taking liberties with his armor. "Yeah, no, Jackie Chan, that ain't happening."

He was still very new at magic, and he couldn't really hope to cast something coherent under these circumstances, but he also benefited from the power of the Apple. Wong didn't expect him to move as fast as he did, so Tony stole the armor back.

"Sorry, Jarvis," he muttered as he elbowed Wong in the face.

Naturally, he was careful, since he could easily kill a normal human with a blow like that. Strange obviously didn't realize that, because he snarled in fury. An amulet shaped like an eye appeared in his hand. Another spell struck Tony, and Tony felt it recoiling in his bones, in his teeth, in his blood.

It was a stronger spell than before and it seemed to jerk at Tony's entire sense of self. If not for the wards, Tony had no idea what would have happened.

Maybe Loki and Amora knew, because all pretense of stealth was set aside. Tony felt something shift in the air, and Strange made a noise and clutched his temples. "Master Stephen?" Wong asked nasally. He was bleeding pretty badly—Tony had broken his nose—but he seemed oblivious. "What is it?"

Strange didn't reply, but he didn't have to. Loki, Amora and Skurge walked into the room mere seconds later.

"That was a mistake, mortal," Loki said. "We tried the easy way. You will regret lifting your hand upon Anthony Stark."

Tony got up, noting that Skurge had Wong immobilized while Amora and Loki were bent over Strange. It was overkill, but hey, it was nice to have the backup in a way it never had been with the Avengers.

He joined his lovers as Loki relieved Strange of the creepy eye-thing. Amora immediately pinned him with a fierce look. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Your wards did the trick—although whatever he hit me with felt very funky."

"It was an astral targeting spell." Loki bared his teeth at Strange even as he spoke to Tony. "It was meant to send your astral self out of your body, leaving you virtually defenseless."

Tony suppressed a shiver. "Well, that was nasty." He'd been defenseless too many times in the past. The thought didn't appeal at all.

"You're the one who invaded my home."

"Hey, invaded? I'll have you know, that's slander. You let me in. And I was just talking to you when you attacked me, so... You're not much of a host, are you, Stephen? Didn't the Tibetan monks teach you manners?"

"I welcomed Tony Stark into my home. Not you."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Oh, for God's sake. Dude, it's still me. I just got a bit of an upgrade, because you know—frail mortal vs. a ton of supervillains. Not a great plan."

"I can understand enhancements," Strange said, "but nothing like what happened to you. It makes no sense."

"Right. Because you're all about what makes sense. Aren't you the surgeon who at one point decided to learn how to shove astral consciousness out of people?"

A vein throbbed in Strange's forehead. Tony felt weirdly accomplished at having pissed the guy off. Served him right.

"Enough of this," Loki snapped. "You have an item in your possession that is of interest to us. You are, however, not qualified to safeguard it. Thus, you will hand it over to us."

"You'll have to kill me first," Strange snapped back, rather predictably.

"Oh, we don't have to kill you to convince you to do what we want."

Amora's eyes glinted ominously. She didn't produce the Mind Gem, although it was something they had considered if Strange didn't cooperate. But she didn't need the Gem to "convince" people to do something they didn't want to. At this point, none of them were all that comfortable with mind control of any kind, but they would do it if they had to.

In the end, it was all sort of beside the point, because Strange didn't actually have the gem. He had apparently been its proud owner until recently, but his some guy named Mordo had stolen it, and gotten Strange's mentor, the Ancient One, killed in the process.

It was very easy for Amora to extract that information, largely because Strange was still sore over it. Apparently, Mordo had been a fellow disciple and for all that he wasn't a very trusting individual, Strange hadn't seen the betrayal coming. He was also still recovering from the confrontation with Mordo, which Tony could now see since he was paying attention.

Oh, and it got better. "We believe Mordo is working with an inter-dimensional demon known as Dread Dormammu," Strange said. He was obviously pissed as hell that he was being forced into telling them the truth, but he still told them, which, in the end, was what mattered.

"If you plan on allying yourself with him, Asgardian, know this. Dormammu only brings destruction in his wake. There will be no world left to rule once he is done, once he escapes his prison."

"That sounds familiar," Tony mumbled. "Why do so many supervillains want to destroy the universe these days? I mean, that's the stupidest thing ever."

"Indeed." Loki sighed. "It would seem, Anthony, that we may have another situation on our hands."

Tony kind of wanted to sulk. He'd been counting on the fact that Thanos was a good distance away, but apparently, now they had this other dude to worry about.

Well, at least they hadn't totally screwed up things. They could still get Strange on their side, if only because Tony recognized all too well the ache for revenge glinting in Strange's eyes.

He crouched next to Strange. "Here's the deal, Stephen. We have another of those wackos coming in, also in search of the gem—and all around destruction. Name's Thanos."

As a rule, he didn't like saying Thanos's name out loud—it was a thing with Loki—but Loki didn't protest and it worked well enough—better than expected in fact. Strange's eyes widened. "You know about the Mad Titan?"

"That's my line," Tony replied. With the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Loki giving Strange a suspicious look. He could empathize. "Where exactly did you hear about that?"

"The Vishanti told me of his coming." Strange sounded shaken, and no longer seemed to be paying attention to them at all.

Tony wasn't sure if he believed that. "The Vishanti. Who exactly is that?"

"I believe they are cosmic beings akin tot deities, Anthony," Loki said. "They were the ones who created the office of the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Oh. Okay. So you got schooled on the imminent apocalypse while you were studying the power of the leaf in Tibet?"

Strange's eyes went to him again. Shock and awe sparked within them, until finally, he settled on determination. "Something like that. The Vishanti said the Titan would be coming, that there would be a messenger sent to aid me. They said I would know him by the glow of his aura." His gaze turned feverish, almost manic. "It is you. Of course."

"Uh..." Okay, this was getting a little weird even for Tony. He gave Loki and Amora a helpless look. "What do I say?" he mouthed.

Fortunately, Amora took over. "He does shine, doesn't he?" she purred. "I have no idea how you could have possibly missed it. It is right there, in your face."

Strange nodded. "Yes, of course. I see it now." He looked at Tony again. "You have my apologies, Mr. Stark."

Apparently, Strange believed him now. That was now, a thing. "Don't sweat it," he said. "You've been through a tough time. You're entitled to having a temper."

For all his words, he still wasn't sure if he could trust Strange. Loki obviously thought the same. "We will let you up, Stephen Strange, but know this. I do not trust you."

"Coincidentally, I do not trust you either, Asgardian."

"Very well," Amora offered. "We will make a vow—to work together until we destroy Dormammu and the Titan."

Nobody said anything to that, which wasn't surprising in the slightest, since it was clear nobody wanted to make the vow first. Tony mentally sighed. At this rate, they'd be here until tomorrow morning, and while Tony appreciated Loki and Amora's company, he much preferred it in circumstances that were less awkward.

He crossed his arms over his chest and cleared his throat. Loki shot him an irritated look, but relented. "Listen closely, mortal," he said to Strange. "These are our terms."

There were a lot of terms. Naturally, the whole alliance shtick meant they couldn't harm each other, but Loki added a proviso—either by action or inaction. He made it clear that until further notice, this alliance, as well as the fact that Loki was still alive and working with Tony, would remain a secret. Tony had to admit he was impressed, since it was clear Loki was in his element when making deals. It was also kind of hot.

Strange retaliated by a similar list of demands. In truth, Tony appreciated it, because for all that Strange could come in handy and apparently believed Tony was some kind of envoy from the gods, Tony still didn't trust him.

Once they were reasonably satisfied with the outcome, they finally made the vow. Everyone in the room was included—even Skurge and Wong.

Well, everyone except JARVIS. It always paid to have a backup plan.


	15. Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't lie. I have been incredible distracted by the approaching CW. I keep getting pulled into scribbling Bucky stuff. Anyway, I managed to finish this, and I hope you'll like it :D  
> As always, kudos and comments much appreciated!

After the incident with the Sorcerer Supreme, Loki decided they'd waited long enough, and they could not afford to do so any longer. They needed the stone the Nova Corps was hiding. Before he left, he made Tony promise he wouldn't do anything stupid.

"I hate to leave you at a time like this, Anthony, but we must act quickly. We cannot risk Thanos making a bid for the Power Gem again, not now that the Time Gem is temporarily lost."

It was clear to Tony that Loki blamed himself for not acting quicker on the Strange front. From his point of view, that was bullshit, since Loki had been busy ruling Asgard, and he couldn't have known this whole mess would land on their plate.

But telling Loki that was useless, so Tony promised he'd be careful, and made Loki and Amora promise the same.

He also insisted that Loki take both Skurge and Amora along, even if Amora had wanted to leave Skurge with Tony. "I'll be fine," he said. "The Avengers are here. Besides, I doubt you'll be gone long."

Famous last words. It stood to reason that a mere day after Loki and Amora left, Karl Mordo attacked.

Tony hadn't actually expected the guy to show up so quickly, but apparently, Tony visiting Stephen Strange had triggered some sort of response, because suddenly, there was a portal in Central Park and a horde of strange gray... things streaming out while this whackjob dressed in a weird green cape-and-tights ensemble stood by and cackled.

Strange popped up just as Tony reached Central Park. Today, he was wearing an outlandish red and blue garb that made even Thor's Mother's Drapes look seem modern. Tony narrowed his eyes at Strange and said, "Okay, that's it. I'm trademarking Van Dykes. You guys are cramping my style." He'd much preferred the white clothes Strange had been wearing before.

Strange ignored him. "Baron Mordo has opened a portal to the Dark Dimension. We must stop the Mindless Ones."

"Right. Those... gray things. Any weakness I should know about?"

"No particular weakness, but do be careful for their eyes. The beams they shoot are most destructive."

Right. Laser beam eyes. Awesome.

"Cap, you got that?" he asked through the communicators. "Need to get on the Mindless Ones."

"What about the actual bad guy?" Clint asked. "Your friend know anything about him?"

It occurred to Tony that he hadn't actually introduced Strange to any of them. This double life thing was getting tedious. Anyway, he'd do it later.

"I'll handle Mordo," Strange offered.

That was fine with Tony because he wanted to keep his promise to Loki, and attacking the guy who apparently had one of the gems in his possession was not a good idea.

Strange teleported to Mordo's side and engaged his nemesis in a spell battle reminiscent of Harry Potter. Tony didn't stay around to look. There were still people in the park and the Mindless Ones—for all their supposed mindlessness—were making a beeline for them.

Strange was right about one thing. The laser vision of the Mindless Ones was not to be taken lightly. The beam of red light left only scorched earth behind, slicing vehicles, trees and statues in two with the ease of a knife going through butter.

Tony found himself trying to avoid the damn beams while he distracted the Mindless Ones from the civilians. He was grazed a handful of times, but fortunately, Amora and Loki's wards held and the armor did the rest. His lasers cleared a path for the civilians to flee, but more Mindless Ones were incoming, and really, he had to figure out how to make the lasers more than a one-off.

He didn't have to stall for long. The rest of his team soon showed up, and Cap's shield once again proved that it didn't actually obey the laws of physics and could stand up against the beams too. With everyone there, Tony could really get into it. The Hulk was already getting busy at smashing the "puny gray ones" and Natasha had taken over evacuation while Clint covered her with his trick arrows. Steve leaped from creature to creature, bashing them with the shield. They weren't easy to take down—blunt trauma did the trick, but only when it came from the Hulk. The repulsors and missiles did well, though, as did Clint's arrows, and Steve managed through the power of sheer determination.

That was when shit really hit the fan. Some Mindless Ones sneaked up on Steve, who'd just tossed his shield at a creature. Tony was used to fighting with Cap, but the herd around Steve was pretty thick. He had no choice but to go with the unibeam.

The beam took down five of the creatures at the same time, saving Cap's star-spangled ass. Sadly, it came with a price, because the armor powered down to alarming levels.

Tony had contingencies in place so he wouldn't be stuck in a dead armor anytime soon, but with his power low and his suit running out of ammo, he was not at his best.

So, of course, that was the moment Mordo decided to focus on Tony. Tony only realized it, because Strange shouted a warning and the proximity alerts blared at the same time. Tony dodged, and the bolt of magic slashed right past him. Thank God for his new and improved reflexes.

He pivoted mid-air to face his new enemy. Mordo was levitating right behind him, surrounded by green light, and Tony hated him on principle for stealing Loki and Amora's color. "The Man of Iron," Mordo said with a smirk. "So you are the envoy of the Vishanti. How fortuitous."

"Uh, I don't know about being anyone's envoy, dude, but us meeting won't be fortuitous for you, that much I can say."

"I suppose we shall see."

Mordo shot another bolt of magic Tony's way, and Tony dodged. He also managed to dodge the Mindless One beams. Mordo clearly had some sort of control over them, which was very unfortunate, since there was only so many spells and laser eye beams that he could avoid.

"JARVIS, how are we on missiles?"

The report wasn't encouraging. Only one micro-missile salvo left, and a few tank missiles, plus the repulsors. Well, Tony had worked with less.

"Okay, JARV. All systems targeting Strange's evil twin. Let's wipe that smirk off his face."

What Mordo didn't know was that Tony had prepared for this. He, Loki and Amora had been working on adapting the suit to magic—among other things. Tony adapted the frequency of the repulsors to the readings he got from Mordo—similar to Strange's, excellent, he could work with that—and shot.

The missiles couldn't bypass whatever shield Mordo had erected around himself, but they did distract him. The repulsors did what the missiles could not, and Mordo's eyes widened as his shield cracked under the onslaught of the energy coming from Tony's fingertips.

It was kind of funny to see Mordo propelled back, and Tony would not deny feeling smugly satisfied at the sight. Unfortunately, while the repulsors worked fine, the power was still low, which meant Tony couldn't pursue his advantage.

Strange showed up, acknowledged Tony with a nod and retrieved his eye amulet thing. And Tony and his new buddy could have probably taken Mordo out, but it soon became apparent that Mordo knew that too.

An orange gem appeared in Mordo's hand. The Time Gem Loki had been looking for. Things were getting better and better.

Strange cried out. "Karl, are you mad? You will destroy us all?"

"Oh, I think not. Just you and your cronies, Stephen."

"Everyone back away," Tony shouted at the Avengers. "Back away now."

The amount of damage Mordo could do with the gem was unfathomable. Chances were there might not be a safe range for to Avengers to retreat. Tony's hope was that Mordo had yet to learn to control the stone—although that could be both good and bad, given Strange's panic.

The only thing that occurred to Tony was flying up and hoping for the best. He never got the chance, because Mordo was apparently done with his monologues. A bright orange glow engulfed the entire area as he started to chant. It happened so fast Tony couldn't hope to avoid it.

In fact, he'd barely managed to formulate a mental apology to Loki when the shock wave sent him flying back. The HUD blurred and for a few seconds, Tony couldn't see anything at all. The moment passed, and the next thing Tony knew, the Mindless Ones were gone, and so was Mordo.

That would have made Tony cheer—except right there, right beneath Tony, a familiar leather-clad figure stood.

Under Tony's horrified gaze—and the confused eyes of the Avengers—Loki collapsed, unconscious.

****

Within two hours of their arrival on Xandar, Amora had decided she hated the Nova Corps. They were the worst possible thing Amora, Loki and Skurge could have run into. The Nova Corps's defenses were not strong enough to withstand an overt attack from Thanos, but they had put some effort into it, so she and Loki couldn't just waltz in and grab the stone without risking the significant chance of discovery. Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem, but they still had to keep Loki's enduring survival a secret from Asgard. And while it wouldn't have been a surprise for Asgard if Amora turned up and took it, it could make Thor get involved in Midgardian affairs again. The consequence of this rather unfortunate situation was not so much the inability to take the gem, but rather, a delay.

They had to study the pattern of the change of the guard, the code of the security, the biometrics that manned the systems. It was elaborate, but not overly so—Loki had broken into the vaults of the All-Father without getting caught. This was nothing.

The process was, as plans went, not particularly intricate. They identified Irani Rael, the leader of the Nova Corps, a blonde female who for some obscure reason looked Midgardian. Rael wasn't much of a threat and it was easy to ambush her and place her under a sleep spell. It was unlikely that Thor or Heimdall were watching, but just in case, they hid her under a heavy shroud similar to the one Loki had been using on the All-Father. Once she was out of the way, Loki took her place. Skurge and Amora shadowed him as they headed into the Nova Corps HQ. From there, retrieving the gem was fairly easy. Amora stood by to provide backup just in case someone noticed something amiss with the behavior of the woman, but everything worked smoothly.

They had just replaced the orb with the Power Gem with a copy Loki had made when Amora felt something was wrong.

Loki must have sensed it too. Even under the guise of the Nova Prime, he twitched and his nostrils flared slightly. His eyes found Amora's and his lips mouthed a single word. "Anthony."

He was right, of course. The wards on their Midgardian lover had been triggered. For the moment, Anthony had not been hurt, but something had attacked him.

They needed to go back to Midgard, as soon as possible.

It was physically painful to see Loki gather his scrambled masks and go through with the plan they'd made. They had no choice—it wasn't like they could just teleport out of the room. It was warded against such things with a system reminiscent of the one Aesir used, and while Loki and Amora could have probably shoved their way past it if they absolutely had to, that would blow their cover.

So Loki endured and Amora and Skurge stood by. It became even more frustrating when they left the vault, because they were intercepted by one of Irani Rael's subordinates. "Nova Prime. Is everything in order?"

Apparently, Irani Rael didn't make it her business to randomly drop by the vaults with no explanation. But Loki and Amora had prepared for that. Amora only hoped that Loki could still stick to what they'd settled on.

But what was she thinking? Of course he could. Loki was the master of deception. He gestured for the man to follow him, turning him away from the spot where Amora and Skurge were—still invisible. "Everything is fine, Denarian Dey. Whenever I look at the stone, I remember what it cost us."

Dey sighed heavily. "We have lost much. But Xandar stands stronger now, and we are free of Ronan."

"That doesn't mean we can rest easy," Loki warned. "There will always be others like him ready to attack. We cannot afford to lower our guard."

"Of course not, Nova Prime," the man stammered. "The Nova Corps is always vigilant."

Loki nodded. "I know. Any word from Peter Quill and his crew?"

"No, Nova Prime. Nothing. Maybe they headed toward Terra."

"Perhaps. Quill is Terran, after all."

"Well, in part."

The Xandarian had relaxed at Loki's skillful turn of the conversation, but every second they spent making sure the man wasn't suspicious was an added risk to Anthony's safety. Finally, Loki's patience snapped. He ordered Dey to add another layer of security over the vault, which had the added benefit of finally getting rid of the pest. As the man left, Loki headed toward the exit of the building—and back toward Irani Rael's home.

It was a little more conspicuous than they'd have liked—chances were someone might look into why Nova Prime had left so quickly after the conversation with her commander—but they couldn't afford to linger any longer. They trusted Anthony to handle himself, but there were threats now that were beyond even their Midgardian's intelligence and skill.

Amora hoped that, if someone figured out what had happened, they'd blame it on her, not on Loki. Once they removed the shroud on the real Nova Prime, they teleported away, back to Midgard.

Or at least, that was the plan, but just as they prepared themselves to do so, they felt a stronger disturbance through the wards around Anthony. Panic flooded Amora. "The Time Gem."

It was a scramble from there. She couldn't teleport exactly to Anthony's side since he was right in the middle of the disturbance. But Loki still had the Power Gem, so he went ahead without her.

It was all in the delay—only a few moments. Amora got to Midgard just in time to see the orange glow fade, still buzzing all around them, but more alarmingly, sinking into Loki's pores.

She was distantly aware of several things. There had been a battle, and Anthony was present, hovering right above them in one of his armors. Stephen Strange was also here, as well as the other Avengers—sans Thor, of course. And Amora knew she should probably do something about that, about the Avengers at least, but then Loki collapsed like a puppet with his strings cut and her ears started ringing and all she could think was that once again, she was too late.

She rushed to his side and dropped to his knees next to him. "Skurge!" she called out breathlessly. "Keep everyone back."

Her Executioner didn't question her. With trembling hands, Amora turned Loki over. She blinked in surprise at what she saw.

Oh dear. This would quite possibly be a problem. Out of everything they could have prepared for, this wasn't something either she or Loki had anticipated.

The familiar sound of the landing armor startled her from her thoughts. "What happened?" Anthony asked. "Is he alive?"

He hadn't lifted his face plate, but there was a tremor in his voice that Amora only detected because she knew him so well. Amora turned and noticed that Skurge was physically blocking Anthony's path. Stephen Strange had a hand on Anthony's shoulder. It was likely only the intervention of the two of them that had kept Anthony from completely blowing his cover by mimicking Amora and coming to Loki's aid.

"Yes," Amora said. "He's breathing. Although I do not know why you would care, Man of Iron."

It was a warning as much as it was a reassurance. They had to stick to their story. The Avengers hadn't figured out Anthony's involvement with Loki yet, and hopefully, they wouldn't have to find out.

With that in mind, Amora quickly took a look around. For the first time, she noticed a crying Midgardian baby lying a few feet away from Loki. She had no idea how she'd missed it, but then, she'd been a little busy worrying about Loki.

The Time Gem lay abandoned next to the baby. She quickly grabbed it and pointed it threateningly at her armorsmith. Anthony lifted his hands and took a step back. "Hey, Barbie, not dissing you here. I'm just asking because, you know, last time I checked you wanted to slice me in two precisely because he was dead."

The reminder didn't particularly improve Amora's mood, but it did solidify their story, and it prevented any suspicion on the Avengers part. The Midgardians were currently approaching, a little warily, but very much hostile. Amora was most concerned about the green beast. She could teleport Loki out of here if needed, but she was unsure how Loki would react to a teleportation spell right now.

As she thought this, a groan sounded from Loki. Amora instantly looked at him. In fact, everyone else did.

Silence fell as Loki opened his eyes. "Amora? What has happened? Where am I? Where is Thor?"

He sounded confused, so very young. His hair was shorter and his armor looked different, the green lighter and the gold warmer. His eyes were also clearer, the shadows of secrets, guilt and agony not yet encroaching upon his soul.

And of course, the first thing he did was ask about Thor. Thor, who'd undoubtedly see what had happened and would make his appearance any moment now.

Amora thought quickly. This was an unmitigated disaster, and Anthony would be crushed once he figured out the truth—if he hadn't already—but she could still salvage something from the situation.

"We are on Midgard, darling. What do you remember last?"

Loki scowled at her and pushed her hands away when she tried to help him up. He stood by himself, still glaring. "Thor and I were getting ready to leave for Nornheim. Please tell me you didn't do something stupid while we were there."

Amora had no idea how much time had passed since then, but it was long enough that Karnilla had stopped being sore over whatever Thor must have done during the trip. Because undoubtedly he must have done something. He always did.

"No, Loki, it wasn't me. Something has happened."

She tried to choose her words carefully, but before she could explain, an arrow flew their way, almost hitting Loki. Loki instinctively caught it and arched a brow at it. The arrow exploded.

The blast was powerful enough that it sent them both flying back. Skurge caught Amora. Loki staggered back, but didn't fall.

He regained his balance and glared at Amora. "What is going on? Amora, please tell me you did not break the All-Father's seal. There's only so much I can do, and I do not think I can save you a second time."

And wasn't it telling that his first reaction to the situation was the fear that he wouldn't be able to protect her again? Because of course, given what little knowledge he had and what he'd seen so far, he must be assuming she had somehow broken her bindings and enchanted the mortals to do her bidding so that she could come after Thor again.

Another arrow flew before she could reply, but Loki batted it away with an irritated noise. "Enchantress, I will not ask again."

"This is going to be hard to believe, Loki, but there was an accident with the Time Gem. It's been many years since Nornheim."

He probably still wouldn't have believed her, but at that exact moment, bright rainbow-colored light split the skies, and the Bifrost hit. A few moments later, the glow faded and Thor was there, followed by his four cronies. "Brother, what madness is this? How are you here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Thor. I'm afraid I have absolutely no knowledge of how we came to be here. Amora tells me that there was an accident involving the Time Gem, but as you can imagine, I'm not sure I believe that."

He sounded normal, calm, but he couldn't have missed the wariness and hostility in Thor's opening question, the difference in his garb, or the fact that Sif already had her sword in her hand and was glaring daggers at him.

Loki had always been very clever. He'd always known how to exploit a situation. And Thor was as much of an open book as he'd always been.

"The Time Gem?" Thor repeated. He was practically radiating hope now, and it warred with the natural suspicion stemming from the guess he'd originally made. Loki couldn't possibly have missed it.

Amora cleared her throat. Right now, Thor was still on the fence on whether or not Loki had tricked him on the Dark World. She could use that. "A mortal sorcerer used the gem for his own purposes," she explained. "It seems that in the process, he accidentally brought Loki back."

Loki didn't pale and he didn't twitch, but a flicker of emotion did cross his face. He did understand. Amora would have to talk to him later and clear things up, but for the moment, he had to make Thor believe this.

"It is as shocking to me as it is to you, but it cannot be denied."

Amora admitted that it was a bit of a stretch. Each Gem had its own powers, and she doubted the Time Gem could resurrect people. Kill them, yes. Resurrect them, not so much. But the Gems were mysterious, and Thor had never been particularly knowledgeable about magical artifacts.

Also, Thor desperately wanted to believe her, and the evidence was right there, in front of him. Loki really had come back from the past. That much wasn't a lie, and for all his flaws, Thor had always known Loki well.

"It is true," Stephen Strange offered. He'd stood to the side until now, but apparently, he'd finally decided to get involved. "I am uncertain as to how exactly your brother is involved, but I do know this. There was a massive temporal disturbance here, brought about by Karl Mordo's use of the Time Gem. As you can see, it's had effects on him too."

He pointed to the baby now in his arms, and that was more than enough to illustrate the point. Thor finally abandoned all doubt. He stalked to Loki's side and pulled him in a tight embrace. "Brother... Oh, brother! The Norns have listened to my prayers."

Loki had never been as physically demonstrative as Thor, but he held on nonetheless. "It is all well now, brother. I do not know what has happened, but we can figure it out. Together."

Thor was openly weeping now, and Amora turned her attention to the mortals. The archer was furiously talking to the Widow, but Amora ignored them. The Captain's jaw was tight and clenched—he was again, irrelevant. Anthony had gone to the green beast and had succeeded in calming him.

He looked at her, and his eyes were dark and filled with understanding. When he spoke, he sounded nothing like her armorsmith, her lover, the man she truly knew. "Not that this isn't touching and everything, but we'd really like to know what's going on here. He did still try to invade Earth, you know."

Loki broke away from Thor's hold and looked at Anthony. "I'm sorry, what? Invade Midgard? Why would I want to do that?"

Sif opened her mouth, probably intending to provide a scathing reply. Amora was faster. This was her chance, a chance to get Thor on their side. "It was Thanos, Loki. He made you do it. It was the Titan."

Thor's breath caught. Thor's cronies looked taken aback. Loki went very pale, but he definitely believed her now.

Their gazes met, and despite the tremendous mess they were in, Amora dared to hope that maybe, just maybe, they might still have a chance to fix things.

If only that chance hadn't come at such a high cost.


	16. All over Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG guys, I'm so sorry. I can't believe I haven't updated something in months. I had a ton of stuff going too, and wanted to do the WinterIron Bang. Life just got in the way. Blah.  
> ANYWAY! I wanted to thank you all for your comments and concern! I've blown away that you've all felt my absence so acutely. I promise I will do my best to snap out of this funk. Many hugs to you all. Hope you enjoy the chapter.  
> P.S. I am working on the next chapter of A Friend for a Week. I hope to have it up soon, so look forward to that :)

Loki was no fool. For all that his brother, Sif and the Warriors Three begrudged him for his supposedly less-warrior like talents, he'd more often than not been the one to pull their asses out of the fire.

After one thousand years of cleaning up messes for his brother, one would have thought he would be ready for anything. Apparently, he'd been wrong.

There were few certainties Loki had, though. He trusted his mother, and he trusted his magic, but he also trusted his brother to be guileless and unable to lie to him. Whatever else had changed, that much had stayed the same.

Given what he'd heard so far, this suggested that one point during the years he'd lost, he'd turned against his brother, attacked Midgard and perished.

It would have been fairly straightforward—if not for the fact that apparently, he had not one, but two Infinity Gems in his possession. He'd woken up with the Power Gem in his hand and he thanked the Norns that he'd been aware enough of himself to hide it before anyone could have seen it. And then, there was the contents of his dimensional pocket. Apparently, the Time Gem had affected everything else, but it had not been able to touch the other two stones.

Naturally, Loki said none of this. Instead, he held his tongue and played along. Thor's enthusiasm was useful, though, because it soon became obvious the other Midgardians resented him quite a lot. The archer in particular kept glaring at him, which was, in all honesty, very irritating, since Loki liked knowing why people hated him.

The armored Midgardian was another riddle. His armor was intriguing, that much was true, but there was something else about him that felt familiar. One thing was clear. Amora knew more than she was saying, and he had to get her alone if he wanted answers.

This wasn't likely to happen anytime soon—Thor didn't seem to intend to release his hold on Loki anytime this century—but that didn't mean Loki couldn't gather more information. The armored man almost seemed to guess Loki's mind.

"Guys, why don't we take this back to the Tower? Might be better to talk about this somewhere less... exposed."

"Wonderful idea, Man of Iron," Thor said. "Lead the way."

The mortal identified as the Man of Iron took to the air, and Thor followed, Loki still clutched to his chest. And so it was that Loki found himself in the undignified position of being dragged along by his brother. It was quite frankly a little peculiar. He was used to it, since Thor had done this a lot when he'd first gotten Mjolnir. But much had changed since those days, and while Thor was known to carry others in battle, Loki usually found his own way.

Their destination was not far. It turned out to be a massive tower erected in the center of the Midgardian city. There was something odd about the location—a spatial disturbance that Loki couldn't quite identify. Another question he would have to address soon.

Amora and her companion were already there when the Midgardian landed on his platform, followed by Thor. The Man of Iron huffed at them. "You know, I don't like to be rude to women, but I don't remember including you two in the invitation."

"Nonsense, Man of Iron," Amora purred. "Skurge goes wherever I go, and of course I am invited. After all, I still have this little trinket."

The trinket in question was, naturally, the Time Gem. The Midgardian grumbled, but didn't argue with her. Loki made a mental note of the name of Amora's friend. It might come in handy in the future.

"You have my apologies, friend Anthony," Thor said, "but I fear Amora's presence may be necessary. She may have information concerning my brother and the true reason of the invasion."

"Right. I figured as much. I really want to hear what had you so freaked out earlier, Point Break. Who the hell is Thanos?"

"Thanos is a Titan, and he is a madenned creature who fancies himself in love with Death," Loki replied. "There are tales on Asgard of the All-Father's battle with him, and how close he came to destroying the universe as we know it. But I believed him to be sealed, safely away from the Nine Realms. How could he have possibly found me?"

Thor made a wounded noise. Amora pressed her lips together, obviously upset. Again, there was something significant they weren't telling him.

"Perhaps until the others arrive, you could catch me up with what happened and what I supposedly did," Loki said. "Then we can discuss the rest of what Amora knows."

"Fair enough," the mortal—Anthony—said. "I don't actually have the whole story, but I can put together something on what we do know."

"Perhaps Thor should start," Amora suggested. "After all, he is the catalyst of all this."

It was a little surreal to take in the distinctive bite in Amora's tone. The last time they'd seen each other, Amora had been smitten with Thor and trying her utmost to seduce him. That betrayal still hurt, even now, so many years after the fact, although he did in fact, feel a smug sort of satisfaction at seeing her change her mind. As much as he had tried, he'd never truly been able to forget Amora.

Thor didn't look very happy at Amora's idea, but neither did he refuse. "Very well, brother. But I urge you to listen carefully and remember that this is the past, and we will not make the same mistakes again."

Thor started his story. He spoke of preparing for his coronation, and he finally gave Loki an estimate of how much time he had lost. Roughly ninety Midgardian years. Loki listened without speaking as Thor described the beginning of the coronation, then the way the Frost Giants had sneaked in. Loki grew increasingly more horrified as Thor spoke of his decision to investigate the matter, to go to Jotunheim.

"Norns, Thor, how could you be so foolish? What were you thinking?"

Thor bristled. "I was thinking that my home had just been invaded by Frost Giants. I wanted to find out the truth."

"You were seeking battle. As always. You haven't changed at all."

"It is not my fault that the Jotnar sneaked into the Weapons' Vault," Thor shouted. "That was all on you."

Loki had no idea if that was true or not, but he didn't find it out of the realm of possibility. It did sound like something he would do, to prevent the greater disaster of Thor being crowned. But that was not what this conversation was about.

"You blame me. For the trip to Jotunheim."

"I do not know who to blame. You were always so good with your words, Loki. You said you were against it, but I truly do not know what you were thinking. Father believes you manipulated me, and Heimdall said that you were the one who let the Frost Giants into Asgard, that you wanted the throne for yourself. I truly do not know."

Except he did know. It had always been easier for Thor, and for everyone else to blame Loki whenever something went wrong. Clearly, this situation was no different.

A soft, warm hand cupped his cheek, and Loki realized he was so furious he hadn't even sensed Amora approach.

"Breathe, darling. I know he is irritating, but I am here now. I promise you, everything is going to be all right."

Weirdly enough, Loki believed her. He probably shouldn't, since she had left him for Thor, but he couldn't help himself. He leaned into the caress and gathered his scattered masks, seeking comfort in her presence, in her familiarity.

"Brother, I am sorry," Thor said. "I swore that if the Norns granted me a chance to make amends, I would do better, and here I am, going back to my ways."

"It is all right, Thor," Loki said heavily. "Just... Let us take matters slowly, yes?"

Thor hesitated, and looked so genuinely subdued that for all his words, Loki could definitely see his brother had changed. The problem was that he suspected it had come at a high cost to himself.

"I was angered at having my coronation day interrupted," Thor said at last. "Thus I decided to go to Jotunheim. You were against it, but you agreed to come with us anyway."

Of course he had. Because that was exactly what Loki had been doing for the better part of life.

"It went poorly. There was a fight, and Father came after us on Jotunheim. I was banished to Midgard for breaking the truce, alone and bereft of Mjolnir and my powers."

Thor spoke quickly, as if he just wanted to get the words out, because they obviously pained him.

"You came to me while I was in exile and told me Father was dead, that I would be banished forever. When I saw you next time, you were crazed and set on destroying the whole of Jotunheim."

Loki had previously decided to listen to Thor carefully, but that latter sentence made him recoil. "What? Why would I destroy an entire realm?"

The mortal made his way to the bar and took a bottle, pouring a generous amount of the liquid inside into a glass. "Here. I did promise the other version of you a drink, and you don't seem so horrible now. You may need it."

Loki took the drink from the Midgardian. Their fingers brushed and a spark of longing flashed through the Midgardian's eyes, before it was quickly hidden. For his part, Loki noticed something else, something very important. The Midgardian carried traces of Amora's magic, but he was not her thrall. Rather, he had wards of protection, discreet enchantments he only recognized because they were much like the ones he himself used.

What was going on here?

Amora cleared her throat, drawing Loki's attention from the Midgardian. "I was still in exile at the time, but later, I was told that you had learned something terrible, something that had unbalanced you and essentially caused your mind to break."

"Something," Loki repeated. "You wouldn't happen to know what this "something" is."

Amora hesitated as well, and Loki definitely didn't like that. Her companion shifted on his feet, the first noticeable gesture he had made all throughout the conversation. Thor was studiously staring at the wall and avoiding looking at Loki directly.

"Tell me."

Thor didn't look like he planned on speaking anytime soon. Amora sighed. "I can tell you what I know, although I did not witness it in person. It was only much later that I found out from a... third party."

Karnilla. Karnilla had most likely told her.

"During your trip to Jotunheim, you were touched by a Frost Giant, but unlike an Aesir, you were not burnt," Amora said slowly. "Upon your return to Asgard and Thor's exile, you learned that... You learned that you are not Odin's son, by birth, but rather, the child of Laufey."

Loki felt numb. "Laufeyson."

Amora didn't reply, but she didn't have to. She wouldn't have said it if it had not been true. Amora was many things, but she had never deliberately hurt Loki, and she never would have gone this far. Besides, in his heart, Loki knew that it was true. He'd always been different from other Aesir. Now, he realized that it was because he'd never been Aesir at all.

Hysterical laughter bubbled in Loki's chest. "Of course. It makes so much sense now, because for all that Odin claimed to love me, he would've never had a Frost Giant on the throne of Asgard." His voice cracked and he hated himself for it. He glared at his not-brother. "And you, Thor... Did you know all along? Did you laugh at the creature trying to pretend he was Aesir?"

At that, Thor finally looked at him. "No, Loki, I did not know. But your blood matters not. You are still my brother!"

"I am Jotnar!" Loki threw his drink at the wall and the glass shattered in a million pieces. "I am the monster parents tell their children about at night. I am a relic, locked up in Asgard until the All-Father might have use of me. I'm not your brother. I never was."

His head was spinning and he was shaking. Thor took a step back, his eyes wide with horror. "Loki, no..."

Amora tried to reach for him and winced when he shied away. Nevertheless, she was not deterred. "Loki. Your blood does not change who you are. Please..."

"No, don't," Loki hissed. "Don't you dare. You knew too, didn't you? That's why you left me—left me for him, for the golden son of Asgard."

"I made a mistake. I know that now. I will forever regret it. But Loki... Please, I want you to give me another chance."

Another chance? What was the point? Amora had been right to leave him. If they had wed like they'd planned, if Amora had had children... They'd have been cursed. Just like him.

Surprisingly, it was the Man of Iron who intervened. "Listen, Reindeer Games. I don't have all the background here, and it's probably not my place to say this, but here's the thing. To me, you guys are all aliens. When I met Thor, he electrocuted me, and he'd have probably killed me if I hadn't been wearing the armor. Your girl Barbie had this mind-control thing going on. You threw me out the window. In my book, none of that is all that different."

"What are you trying to say, Man of Iron?"

The Midgardian stabbed his fingers through his hair, and Loki idly wondered why his hands were trembling. Perhaps it might have been intriguing to find out. "I guess that didn't come out right. What I'm trying to say is that race and species are beside the point. What matters is who you are—inside—and you decide that. No one else but you. Because you guys might have hurt me, but at the end of the day, it was a fellow human who carved my chest open. So really, it's all empty—race, species, bloodlines. It's all about choice."

"Choice," Loki repeated. The thought was so alien to him. For as long as he could remember, he'd been restricted by his position as prince of Asgard, by his never-ending quest to keep his oaf of a brother alive. More often than not, the only choice he had was the exact method he could use to save Thor and his cronies. He could have stayed behind, but he could never bear the thought of leaving Thor on his own.

What did that make him?

"I don't understand. I..." Loki shook his head, trying to clear it. "This... This doesn't make any sense."

He needed... He needed to think. He needed to breathe. He needed space.

He needed his mother.

Oh God, his mother. Frigga. Had she known? She must have. She'd lied to him too, just like everyone else had.

No, he would not hide. He might be a monster, and he might have to face it, but he'd force them all to face it with him.

"Thor. How did I die? Where do the Midgardians and the Titan fit into this?"

His own voice sounded alien to his ears, and he'd have been ashamed at such behavior had he been able to make himself care. He'd never seen Thor look more crushed than he did then. Unfortunately, this proved to be counter-productive, since the Thunderer's explanation wasn't very satisfying. "You... fell. Off the Bifrost."

"I have a feeling there's more to it than that," he snapped bitingly.

Fortunately, Amora had been informed of this too, because she provided the details Thor could not speak of, and an explanation for the "you tried to blow up Jotunheim" part. The story she told was both difficult to imagine and yet somehow made sense. Even now, he could feel how badly he wanted to lash out against Thor, against Asgard, against Jotunheim, against all the unfairness.

If he were in Asgard now and given the throne? If he were faced with the betrayal of the only friends he'd ever known—fake as they might have been—on top of all the lies of his family? Yes, he could see himself wanting to unleash the Destroyer. And didn't it make sense to destroy Jotunheim? They were only monsters, only beasts. He was only proving his loyalty to Asgard. A choice—between the filthy of his birth and his true home.

Once again, it was Anthony Stark's voice that cut through the haze in his mind. Oddly, the mortal made his way to Loki's side, staying mostly out of reach, but otherwise, largely fearless. "Listen, you look like you need a moment to yourself. You can stay here. Ask JARVIS if you need anything. We'll give you some privacy."

Thor didn't look very happy about that idea. "Man of Iron, I'm not sure..."

The Midgardian waved off Thor's words. "Relax, Point Break. I doubt your brother has any interest in going anywhere. If he did, he wouldn't be here now, am I right?"

"I'm not sure your companions would agree with your assessment, Anthony Stark," Amora said, arching a brow.

It was true. The other Midgardians seemed to hate Loki. By rights, this man should feel the same. He himself had said that Loki had thrown him out the window, presumably attempting to kill him.

What else was he missing here? Why would Anthony Stark offer Loki the use of his own home? And why did looking at him make Loki feel like he'd lost something even more important than his Asgardian legacy?

Who was this man truly and how was he connected to Amora?

"Thank you for the offer, Lord Stark, but I don't need privacy. What I need is information."

The Man of Iron scanned his face with knowing, fathomless eyes. "Okay, Reindeer Games. I can do that."

As it turned out, during Loki's conversation with Amora and Thor, the Man of Iron had not been idle. Moving his hands through the air in a striking mimicry of Loki's own way of summoning illusions, he brought up a display.

"I put together a little something real quick. May answer some of your questions."

The "little something" the Man of Iron had promised started with some grainy footage of the Destroyer. It was sketchy, clearly something Anthony Stark had somehow scavenged, but it did confirm that part of Amora's tale. "After all that, you guys vanished and we Earthgardians only heard from you a year later. Fury—who's like... I guess our own personal version of the great pirate in the sky—was messing with something he really shouldn't have been. The Tesseract. Surprise, surprise, it opened a door, and you came out, looking like a refugee straight out of Auschwitz."

Loki did not understand all the Midgardian references, but he understood their meaning well enough. Seeing himself attacking the Midgardians wasn't truly surprising, but he did feel strangely disconnected from it. The man in the images could have very well been a stranger, since the tale he had starred in was one a disorganized invasion led by a madman.

Even at his wits' end, as he was now, he doubted he'd have lost to a motley crew like these Avengers seemed, especially not with an army at his back.

"It seems that at one point, between my last meeting with Thor and the next, I had a run in with Thanos. It didn't do me any favors."

"Indeed not," Amora confirmed. "You were heavily injured by your journey through the void, and the Titan used the Mind Gem on you. Among other things. At one point, his hold on your mind was largely dislodged, but the damage was already done."

Loki was pretty sure he knew when that had happened—likely when he'd faced off with the green beast. Idly, he wondered how Thor had not seen the distinctive change in him after that event.

Then again, his not-brother was not known for being very observant.

"I take it the All-Father did not react well to this incident. Is that how I died?"

Once, he wouldn't have thought the All-Father would execute him, but given what he knew now, it seemed a distinct possibility.

Thor's expression told him he was wrong on that account. It made dread swell inside Loki even further. "There's more."

This time, Thor didn't shy away from what needed to be said. "Loki... There was an attack while you were imprisoned. The Dark Elves sought the Aether which was in Asgard at the time." Thor's voice went so quiet Loki barely heard him at all. "Mother is dead."


End file.
